The Gubbins Experiment

If it's not fun, it's not sustainable

2012-01-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Recently, I left a community organization board meeting with a heavy heart. We'd argued over whether or not to buy insurance, some of us didn't like a proposal put forward by someone but didn't feel comfortable expressing our opinions, and somebody else lamented the fizzling out of a program we'd implemented earlier in the year. The meeting had not been much fun.

But this meeting had merely joined a long list of occasions where community work had seemed like a chore. Neighbors battling neighbors, screaming at government officials at public meetings, frustration when folks don't show up to events... so often making the neighborhood a better place seemed to be about self-judgment, doing penance for the fact that collectively we live in a far from perfect world.

This should be fun, right?

After the meeting, a friend's words came to mind and shone clarity on the situation: "If it's not fun, it's not sustainable". This was a reminder that many, if not most, grassroots "doers" (I prefer this word over "activist", which often carries more militant connotations) operate on limited time, with small or no funds, and with little professional experience. They get involved through a passion to make a difference; they want to enjoy what they do.

Sadly, things often go wrong. Many doers start with positive passion but over time become jaded and cynical, slipping into verbally back-stabbing opponents and self-flagellation for perceived failures. Most people strongly dislike arguing, strong pressure, and punishment for failure. Confronted with even small doses of this, those who want to get involved attend one meeting and never come back.

Why is it that, bearing enough hardship earning a living wage, we want to come home and apply the same pressured ethics to volunteering? Have modern norms of constant productivity infiltrated the sacred spaces of play and volunteerism? How important is it for us to take a load off, to enjoy our time away from the wage world? Do we know how to have fun anymore?

This family barn-raising looks fun. Continue!

For 2012 and onwards, I propose that we promise ourselves to enjoy life as much as possible and never to let our voluntary activities lose a sense of joy. If something isn't nourishing the soul anymore, if it has degenerated into something negative, consider whether that activity is right for you.

Be at ease with the fact that there is always more you could do, but you can only do so much. Do whatever fits in with your need for happiness. You only have so much time and energy to give, you bear enough weight already. There are certainly hard times even with projects you love, but in the big picture don't cross the line into misery. Be creative and make sure that fun is a part of every step: bake cookies for a meeting, play a game, ask people how their day was, hold gatherings in interesting places, tell team mates how much you appreciate their camaraderie. And remember: Celebrate celebrate celebrate.

And don't give a damn about what other people think you should be doing. Remember, in the long run, you probably won't keep it up if you're not enjoying it.

Have fun, no matter what you do.

A new Gubbins Experiment: Kicking the internet out of the house

2011-11-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

This week a new Gubbins Experiment began: As a rule, I will not use the internet at home. Instead, online use will generally happen at the local library.

Let's explore this experiment in greater detail. It has already been an eye-opening experience.

A life of screens

The effects of electronic screens - televisions, computers, cellphones, and so on - have acted on me since birth, although it has only been in the last few years that I got serious about it. Growing up, television and video games were used heavily in my family. As the years rolled by, we spent many times the hours in front of these machines than we did with each other. Televisions and computers were so addictive, fun, and entertaining - what better use of time was there?

When I grew up and moved into other houses, the lure of screens continued. At the moment at which I had stopped watching television and was growing out of video games, the internet showed up with a hook more powerful than anything before it.

And in the last 5 years, here in San Francisco, successive housemates moved in and disappeared into their rooms, home time dominated by sitting in front of their personal computer. Month after month, year after year, I'd return home to shut doors, indicating that people were in their rooms, motionless before a computer.

My own computer habits bothered me just as much. Determined not to shut myself away, my laptop use stayed in common spaces - the living room and, more recently, the kitchen. But when a person entered those areas, something felt wrong; these rooms were social spaces and yet my behavior while on the computer was far from sociable. Often my eyes would stay fixed on the screen, even when talking to someone, and I would try to minimize our conversations' lengths. Even when my eyes were on someone else, the screen's magnetic pull was palpable.

Computers and televisions have affected us all. Screens suck life from wherever they are placed. Homes at night resemble the plugged-in humans scenes in The Matrix; in bars, television screens draw eyes away from conversation; a ghostly silence descends over cafes growing ever more full of laptop-users; and in the street we are increasingly out-competed for attention by friends' smartphones.

Electronic screens are everywhere, we have become transfixed. Many of us have spent our whole lives distracted from one another, losing precious years to digital sterility, slaves to addiction from birth.

Time to do something

Sick of this social degradation, it was time to address the issue. This week, I decided that - as a rule - internet use stays out of the home. All my online time would now take place at the library. As a place dedicated to quiet work, research, and reading, the library is one of the few public spaces where computer use feels appropriate.

Where necessary, the internet could be used at home to find a specific piece of information such as a cooking recipe, but these uses would remain infrequent. Generally, home life was now computer-free.

Outside the local library

A successful Gubbins Experiment

The effects of an internet-free home have been extremely positive. Some areas of noticed change include:-

1. Getting out of the house and into public space. As my freelance lifestyle does not force me to be at a workplace, this used to mean I spent much of the day at home for both work and relaxation, so being there became tiring. The library provides a public space's vibrancy and the opportunity to bump into more people.

2. A real home experience. With work now mostly relocated elsewhere, the purity of the house as a retreat from obligations and a place to relax has been largely restored. My computer use is not draining energy from common spaces - and accompanying distracted behavior - and the nagging addictive pull of the internet has been eliminated. Now I can be a happier and better-quality housemate.

3. Better online habits. As the internet is confined to one place for a few hours (right now, around 3 hours per day), a to-do list is kept for the next visit to the library. Online time is now more task-focused and takes up less time because there's no more hopping on and off for the odd task here and there. There is almost zero use for entertainment purposes; the internet is for necessary tasks, not distraction.

4. Using my brain more. Without easy and constant access to the internet, I use my memory more often, make notes, and call up friends for information. It makes life more interesting than getting all the facts from the same mechanical object.

5. More time for everything else. The internet is one of almost infinite things we could be doing with our lives and I'd say it's one of the more dull and sterile options. When leaving the library, the internet also stays behind, and time opens for everything else. At home, there's more reading, writing, and painting; walks and social time are more common; so are calls and visits to people instead of emailing them.

6. Freedom to slow down and relax. The internet encourages us to think that everything can, and often must, be done right now; there is no need to wait. The perpetual ability to get online to work, look something up, or find entertainment, is like a relentless conveyor belt feeding material into our minds; space to slow down and relax is eliminated. But this week, I've rediscovered how refreshing that space is. Most things can wait, you do not have to do everything right now.

Emergent habits

Based on these early observations, some personal guidelines by which to operate are emerging. These are for your own mental edification, not to imply that you should do as I do.

1. Use electronic screens only in certain places for short periods of time. Restrict both the hours and the locations where screens are used. Avoid screens as much as possible at home and in other common spaces, such as the street, cafes, and in the street.

2. Socialize and relax away from screens. Interact with other people without screens; hide or remove screens from sight; and relax in a variety of mental and physical ways, such as through sport, art and crafts, and reading.

3. Rely primarily on non-electronic sources of information. Where possible, call or visit people for information, or look something up in a book.

Room for development and limitations of this experiment

As this experiment is in its infancy, new habits are still transitioning from old ones. Who can say how this will play out in the longer term, and there are limitations to the experiment.

Here are some thoughts on this:-

1. Eliminate the internet's psychological grip. My mind still sometimes yearns, cold turkey-style, for the next online time. Hopefully this pull will be extinguished with time.

2. Reduce hours of internet use still further. This week, my internet use averaged 3 hours a day - and this blog was written on a Saturday, mostly because of unwillingness to wait until Monday. Perhaps in the future these hours will be reduced and weekends will become an internet-free sanctuary.

3. Use the internet for fewer functions. I still email many people instead of calling or visiting, there are still websites not necessary to visit, information could be gained away from the internet, and would the world really be any different if this blog ceased to be?

4. Limited applicability for other people: Other people might consider themselves more internet-dependent than me for work or otherwise, there isn't a library or other appropriate space close by, children complicate the issue, or there may be other reasons why you consider my experience hard or impossible to replicate. Of course, we're all different. But if this subject is interesting to you, maybe you can find your own strategies for moderating internet use and keeping your life colorful.

Sunshine is analog, not digital

The internet, and electronic screens and technology in general, are addictive; they convince us that they are more necessary than they really are. Many of us have become enslaved to them. So immersed in artificiality, we have forgotten how fresh and "real" life can and should be. Electronic technology opens new avenues but ultimately is just more dependence, which is antithetical to freedom, one of the most essential components of human happiness.

Somewhere in even the most internet-addicted mind there is the desire to be free. This new experiment, although so recently begun, has been so liberating for me that I cannot imagine returning to using the internet much at home any more. It has brought a new balance and successfully addressed a long-standing issue - that of the socially degrading effects of electronic screens.

Over to you... what do you think?

The Village of Spontaneous Interactions

2011-09-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

The mark of a good neighborhood is "the number of spontaneous interactions it facilitates". - David Engwicht, urban thinker.

We live in an age of planning. Social gatherings are scheduled, holiday itineraries are calculated, streets and parks are designed, and laws are written to encompass ever more situations. Chaos and unpredictability are now no more than niche attractions, reserved for the thrill-seekers or outlaws of society.

And yet, in spite of the received wisdom of the dominant culture, a resident of any good neighborhood understands the power of spontaneity, the random conversations when you are sharing spaces with many other people; any effective community-builder embraces the phenomenon. There are some things you can plan, but many many things you cannot.

This year, as I've been co-organizing my local community street fair, spontaneity has brought me all kinds of surprises. There is no way I could do what I do without considerable doses of spontaneity.

Examples, just from the past few weeks, include:-

Crossing the street, I hear a great classical guitar player busking and recommend he plays music at our street fair. He then applies and we accept him.
I bump into a guy on the street who has attended several community events. I tell him that we're looking for Burning Man art at our fair. It just so happens that he's attended every Burning Man event since the beginning and he gives me a list of contacts to follow.
At last week's local farmers' market, a lady who somehow knows me asks about uniting several local book authors to have a booth at the Fair. I encourage her to apply and several days later she does.
I'm drinking tea on the street corner with a friend and get talking to a guy who offers a fund-raising tip of which I never would have thought.

Being organized is certainly a virtue, but leave enough room for spontaneity; it'll bring results you'd never have predicted. The best community-builders are both well organized and open to spontaneity. On the other hand, it is all too common to think that being productive is about holing yourself away in front of a computer (efficient machine) or driving around in a car (gets you places quickly).

As a response to the philosophy that shutting yourself away is the way to go, I say: Open yourself up as much as possible to direct contact with other people. The more accessible you are, the better.

Here are some practical suggestions:-

Regularly attend social gatherings such as fun events, farmers' markets, and meetings. Meet people and learn their names.
Run errands on foot, rather than in a car or on a bicycle.
Call people instead of emailing them. If they have a landline, try that first; someone else may answer and you'll have a spontaneous interaction.
Read, write, socialize, eat, or perform other ordinary tasks out on the sidewalk, instead of in your house.
Minimize or eliminate using in public anti-social devices such as sunglasses, cellphones, and personal music devices.
Look up as you walk down the street. Greet or smile at people you see regularly. Be open to conversations in the street.

Picture the village of pre-industrial times. Most travel was slow - on foot or by horse. Towns evolved to maximize contact: streets were narrow, houses and shops were packed tightly together, and there were common spaces and squares in the heart of the busy areas. These factors ensured that on any journey, you were sure to bump into a familiar face, catch up on news, maybe do business. This plethora of small daily interactions created an invisible social web that offered a sense of belonging, stability, and cohesion.

Spontaneous interactivity is so much fun! I can tell you from experience that there is no richer, more enjoyable neighborhood life than one characterized by social serendipity. Once your every trip down the street is full of surprises, warm smiles, and catch-up chats, you will never want it any other way.

As someone who wants to be effective, and certainly wants to be happy, strive to rediscover that village of spontaneous interactions in your own life. It will serve you well.

Keys to a Great Household

2011-07-30T22:22:00.001-07:00

At some point, you've probably experienced a less than satisfying living situation. And during such a time you may have thought, "How can I make this house a home in which I feel comfortable and happy?" Perhaps you are feeling that way right now. If so, then read on to discover how easily a wonderful household is within your reach. It's possible and you deserve to be happy in your home.

The below guide is for people who care about where they live. Many housemates see paying the rent as the most they are willing to contribute to the house. If you are so inclined, it is not my place to tell you that you should do otherwise. However, I suggest that the vast majority of people become happier when they put effort into their home. Even if you expect to live somewhere for a short period of time, why defer a quality experience until a later date? Enjoy it now.

The guide is written mostly from the renter perspective, since that is the arrangement with which I'm most familiar. But if your living situation fits some other category, much of the below will still apply. As the Sunscreen Song says, "My advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience." To that end, email me at gubbins4ever@yahoo.com or reply below if you have any ideas for additions or amendments to the below.

Introduction

A great household requires much more than merely bringing together "nice people". Great homes only happen with vision, community, and ongoing effort. In such a place, housemates:

Feel free to express themselves
Enjoy rest from the hussle-bustle of the outside world
Share a culture of positive action in the face of imperfections and challenges
Have worked out which household elements on which to coordinate
Reside in a house that meets acceptable quality of life standards
Feel part of a community of equals

One crucial matter before we explore these ideas in greater depth...

Choosing quality housemates

Strive for quality housemates with whom you feel comfortable and make sure they agree to the house order before the move in.

People generally find housemates either "cold" (previously unknowns, solicited through places such as Craigslist) or through social connections. Neither avenue guarantees success although people you already know directly or indirectly have already received some degree of screening.

The collective should identify how the house is to work and state this to potential new housemates before they move in. Think your wanted ad and house interview through carefully; you will save yourself a lot of suffering by making sure candidates agree to your baseline criteria prior to joining the house. If necessary, put something in writing and review adherence to these criteria at house meetings.

If time is running out before the next rent installment is due, consider finding a short term tenant as you continue to search for a longer term housemate. Avoid picking a subpar individual because you are desperate. Do not settle for a mediocre situation - it will eat away at you as the months and years pass.

At least they're in the same room

1. In a great household, housemates find common ground

In terms of career, interests, hobbies, background, and so on, diversity of residents can keep a house fresh and interesting. At the same time, on a day to day basis, a certain level of commonality makes for a quality living experience.

Make sure you and your housemates agree/overlap on the following points:

Your daily schedules: How much do you want to be in the house at the same time and sharing things such as mealtimes? Too much overlap can be stifling, too little can make it hard to bond and find enough opportunities to meet and discuss house issues.

Cleanliness: You must all agree on the house's minimum level of cleanliness and on how much each effort each housemate is expected to put in to maintain that level. When new housemates move in, walk through the house as a group and let everybody explain their preferred level of cleanliness for every common area.

Relations with neighbors: How important is it for your household to interact with neighbors and contribute to the wider community? At the very least, housemates must agree on what constitutes respectful coexistence with the neighbors.

Lifestyle: To what extent is it important to share the same views on diet (omnivore, vegan, etc), use of intoxicants, politics, smoking, health needs, pets, television/internet use, noise before/after certain hours, regularity of friend visits, parties, and so on?

Use of common space: Some people spend all their times in their bedrooms, others prefer to be in their housemates' physical presences in the living room or kitchen. Make sure you are comfortable with the house's social arrangement.

Rights: Are there any situations in which one or more housemates - by virtue of how much rent they pay, how long they have lived in the house, their duties and obligations with the landlord, and so on - have more rights/power than any other housemates? Are there any instances in which the right of veto applies?

Chemistry: This is the x-factor. Do you connect on a personal level and feel comfortable around one another? Does conversation flow naturally? How easily can you raise and discuss household and/or personal issues?

These housemates are diverse but they know how to work together

2. A great household finds a balance between freedom and structure

As stated above, households are not made great by sitting back and doing nothing. Your home needs some degree of structure, paying rent being the obvious minimum. You need to agree on the balance between enough structure for getting things done and sufficient freedom for autonomy and relaxation.

Here are some structural elements for you to consider integrating:

House meetings: This is where overlapping schedules come in handy. Regular house meetings can provide a space for housemates to feel comfortable to air their feelings about the house, past, present, and future. Discussions with everybody present are usually far more productive, inclusive, and capable of quality decisions than conversations between individual housemates. Meetings are also a good opportunity to catch up and enjoy time together, if you don't often have the opportunity.

You may like to form an agenda to keep the meeting succinct and have someone make notes to ensure recall and follow up on relevant points. Remember to agree on deadlines for action items.

Discussing house issues is a delicate art. Make sure you communicate clearly and empathetically with your housemates. Meetings should feel relaxed, nothing should get personal, and no one person should dominate the discussion. The best guide on communication I've read is the book Nonviolent Communication (Amazon, SF Public Library).

Chore rotas: Only in rare circumstances does it work to leave it open for housemates to do as little or as much cleaning as they like. Usually, everybody has different ideas on what constitutes minimum standards and in a free-for-all nobody knows how much cleaning anyone else has done. The most common result is that everybody slacks and at least a few resentful people feel they do more than their fair share.

A chore rota ensures that everybody is contributing to a minimum level. A monthly schedule often works well. The people who like to do even more cleaning than specified by the rota usually don't mind doing so if they know that everybody is doing something. If people are routinely slacking on their chores bring it up at the house meeting.

House projects: Get together for the occasional collective project to bring excitement and lasting benefits to the house. For instance, you might try a garden overhaul, a hunt for new art to put on the walls, or a deep cleaning day. Schedule a house project shortly after the move in of a new housemate to help that person to feel a degree of ownership over their new abode.

Basic provisions jar: Get everybody to chip in a set amount every month for basic provisions, such as toilet paper, soap, and so on. These items are then acquired more easily because nobody is consistently using their own money for purchases.

House upgrades jar: A pot into which people monthly contribute larger sums than for the basic provisions jar - the former being used for house upgrades such as art for the walls, plants, new furniture, and so on - could be a great way to keep the house constantly improving.

Birthdays: Remembering housemates' birthdays is a good way to make people feel a part of the house. Find out the dates of everybody's birthday and consider doing something on those dates.

Housemate social gatherings: Sharing social experiences - such as meals together, hikes, ceremonies, and nights out - might be the only time that you all come together as a group. Such occasions can be valuable and worth building into your monthly schedules.

Lastly, don't forget: Whenever your household achieves anything... Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate!

When was your last house adventure?

3. A quality household exists within a quality building

Whatever the rent you pay, your abode must reach a certain level of quality. Such standards include rights to adequate heating, smoke detectors, mold abatement, hot water, quiet enjoyment, appropriate treatment by the landlord, and so on.

If you live in San Francisco, your best guide is the SF Tenants Union's Tenants Rights Handbook. Learn your rights and put in writing any requests you make to the landlord, even requests that have been made in another way, such as in person.

Then, discuss and agree upon how far beyond the minimum you want to go. What kind of aesthetic and functionalities work for everybody and how much time, effort, and money can you afford to invest?

You hold the keys to a great household

Creating a great household means making the right decisions. Choose wisely - be it neighborhood, house, housemate, furnishings, et cetera - from among the options available to you. Once you have settled on basic choices, work out when you can improve things, when you need to accept a situation and live with it, and when something is unreformable and you need to get rid of it (eg. by moving out, getting a new housemate, and so on).

If you've never experienced a satisfying living experience or if you feel stuck in a rut right now, don't despair. With effort, collaboration, time, and vision, a top-class living experience is yours for the taking. Life is short, why wait?

Photos, top to bottom (all Flickr): foreverdigital, adactio, merwing little dear, raguy, voxphoto

The Sweetness of Knowing Names

2011-05-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

Author/lecturer Dale Carnegie once wrote that "a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language."

My appreciation for knowing people's names never stops growing. I'm steadily learning the names of neighbors on my street; and now Antoinette, John, Cynthia, Jesse, Ken, Judy, and Carl - among others - hear their names when we greet one another.

Learning the names of local business owners and employees is also a real kick. Suki runs the corner store around the corner from my house, John owns my local wine bar, Donnamarie works at my nearest jewelry store, Brandi co-owns a nearby gift stop, and Howard works at the bakery.

And then there are the names of people who work in important local organizations: Paula is the administrator at the church near me, John is principal of a nearby international school, Kevin is a local police sergeant, and Ross is my district supervisor.

I wear a name tag on my jacket's lapel at all times (a shrinky dink saying "Hello my name is Adam", made for me by an old friend) so that my name is readily apparent to anyone. It's worked well over the past few years and people seem to appreciate it.

Lots of names, lots of opportunities. Photo from "The Big Lunch" event.

Why learn people's names?

1. Ice-Breaking. Knowing someone's name is the ultimate ice-breaker. Whether someone is shy, suspicious, unfamiliar, of a different culture, or otherwise, you can warm to one another by learning their name. Learning names is the first step to getting to know your neighbors.

2. Navigating the grape vine. A community-builder who knows a lot of names builds a map in their mind of who knows who and where to go for information and resources. "You should talk to Cheryl at the local school. She knows someone with a lot of spare carpets you could use for your event."

3. Seeing people as humans. We have all de-humanized strangers, judging them by their looks, race, gender, clothing, demeanor, or otherwise. That doesn't mean we're bad people, it's a natural tendency. However, knowing someone's name makes them fully human to us and lifts us above our natural lazy judgments. We come to appreciate people and to empathize with and respect them.

4. Being happy. Knowing names makes people friendlier and more familiar. A high percentage of people smile when you call their name. It's part of a happy life.

How to learn names

Many of us think we're naturally bad at remembering names. I don't actually think this is the case for most people; we just need some techniques. Chris Witt has some great advice, which I will put in my own words and expand upon below:

1. Commit to learning names. Understand the importance of knowing names and build name-learning into your daily practice.

2. Concentrate. Make sure you really listen when someone tells you their name. Ask them to repeat it if you didn't hear or to spell it out if their name is unusual to you.

3. Employ repetition. Use someone's name a few times within the first couple of minutes of talking with them. This really helps you memorize their name.

4. Use the power of association. To help remember a name, associate it with an action, visual, sound, or something else. For instance, if someone's name is Derek, you might say it sounds a bit like "deck" and thus associate them with an image of a ship.

5. Ask next time. If you failed to remember someone's name, ask them on the next occasion or as soon as possible; you could even write their name in your notebook to really drive it home. This avoids the awkward "I've known someone for 6 months and I still can't remember their name" phenomenon that we have all experienced.

6. Use name tags. When organizing events, get people to put on sticky name badges. I do this for most events with which I'm involved.

7. Introduce someone else. This is a little sneaky trick I use when it feels too awkward to ask for someone's name a long time after you first met. Introduce someone whose name you do know to the person whose name you want to know and the latter will introduce themselves. Now remember this time!

Time to get learning! Photo from "The Big Lunch" event.

Knowing names is a key ingredient of an effective community-builder, a good neighbor, and a happy person. It has become uniquely important to me as I've gotten to know more and more people in my neighborhood and you will probably discover the same thing.

If you want to feel a part of your community, get to know names. It's that simple!

Come out into the street and change the world

2011-04-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

If you live on a street and you have neighbors, this is for you.

I believe that reconnecting with our geographical neighbors is one of the most important things we can do. To be alone is a kind of death; isolation is a condition without support, sharing, stories, excitement, or color.

Isolation is death but in community there is honesty, richness, intrigue, coincidence, curiosity, happiness, and love. Community is the spark that chases away the technosaturated-overworked numbness so many of us feel today.

You probably understand community as knowing your neighbors, helping each other out, feeling a sense of commonality and connection, and so forth. But how does one actually begin building community? In this writing, I focus on one element – an element without which full community cannot happen: Pushing into the streets.

Why push into the street?

Whereas the street was once the place for connection and for lingering, it is now a place of hypermobility and danger. That this common space could, in daily life, be for anything else is now unquestioned; it is apparently rude and dangerous to act otherwise. When we retreated from the streets, the roar of traffic then pushed us off the sidewalk into our homes. The retreat was complete.

In the street, recurring faces become familiar and familiar faces become friendly. From there we begin sharing our lives. Pushing back into the streets is essential; it is also easy, cheap, fun, requires little time, and is liberating. Below I'll list some ways that you can do this, ranging from instantly doable to achievable with some resources or a little courage.

Introductory thoughts

There could be said to be two main parts of the street: The sidewalk and the road. Reversing the retreat into our houses will likely involve pushing first back onto the sidewalk and then into the road (with parking spaces as a mid step between the two). Thus, I divide the below suggestions into these different areas.

Two important points to make before we proceed:

The below are my suggestions. But you will probably get more excited about ideas generated inside your own mind. Think for yourself about how you could push into the street.

Do not spend too much time thinking, reading, or preparing. Start doing something as soon as possible after reading this.

Principles

Perform as many daily functions in the street as possible.

Consider the street as a place for lingering, not just movement.

Think less about laws and rules and more about negotiation and compromise.

1. Start with the sidewalk

These daily activities are suitable for individuals or groups to do on the sidewalk:-

Eat meals
Drink tea or coffee
Read
Write
Do physical exercise
Make art
Play music
Daydream
Smile or wave at passersby
Chat, or do any of the above, with friends

Due to their tendency to degrade the public realm or to make people feel excluded, I recommend keeping the following away from public places:-

Phone conversations
Computers
Sunglasses
Smoking

2. Next, move to parking spaces

Once you get used to sidewalk activities try moving beyond and doing the below in parking spaces.

Dinner parties
Book clubs
Discussion groups
Board games
Music, acting, or other performances

These activities can be more enjoyable if you create a living room feel outside. Loot your house or build a street reclaiming kit by visiting garage sales. To create such a space, you could bring:-

Rugs
Cushions
Chairs
Plants
Tables
Ornaments
Materials to create a border around your space on the road side

Some people go a little further and create "linger nodes" that can be left outside all the time. Such nodes can involve benches, potted plants, and community notice boards.

3. Finally, reclaim the road

Enjoying solo and communal activities regularly on the sidewalk and in parking spaces will return life to your street. Bringing people back into the road is the final step.

There are several common concerns to address on this subject.

Possible danger from oncoming vehicles:-

Ensure vehicles and you can see one another well in advance and that vehicles are not too numerous or traveling too fast.

Place items, such as children's tricycles or a welcome sign, at intersections or other visible areas to indicate to drivers that people are using the street.

There is no reason why vehicles and people can't share the streets. Think about how you can blur the distinction between the pedestrian and vehicle worlds. Progressive urban thinkers have found that this blurring, far from being dangerous, actually reduces the frequency of accidents.

Possible antagonism from drivers:-

In my experience, drivers quickly understand and appreciate people enjoying their street. Drivers are usually happy to take a little more care to pass you courteously.

Wave and smile at passing vehicles and you will usually get the same in return.

Possible reactions from the police:-

I don't know of any laws that prohibit use of the street by non-vehicles (ie. people). Act sensibly, safely, and courteously and your good manners will be obvious.

Police only usually stop when someone calls them with a complaint, so be on good terms with as many neighbors as possible.

Your street, your home

Your street is part of your home and you have every right to be there. This is your space and you should feel welcome there. In fact, the more you are there the more everybody benefits. Using the street is a service to yourself and your community.

I'll leave it up to you to review the lists under the Sidewalk and Parking Space sections above and think about which of these you could bring into the road. For further reading, I strongly recommend reading the book Mental Speed Bumps (author's site, Amazon link) and visiting the Creative Communities website, where you'll find many inspiring suggestions included in the MSB book.

Whatever you do out in the street, make sure it's fun and promotes community and harmony. I promise that if you push back into the street, your life and that of your community will never be the same again.

You can change the world on your own street. And guess when's the best time to start...

=============

Photo credits (from top to bottom)

Neighbors learn lindy hop together in the street at the Inner Sunset Street Fair, which I helped organize. Photo taken May 15th 2010 by Chris Duderstadt.
My 30th birthday party on the sidewalk outside my house. Photo taken October 10th 2010.
We took over this parking space to promote neighborhood gathering and dialogue. Photo taken April 10th 2011 by Nicole Barens.
After the parking space event above was moved on by a police officer (of the many parking space events we'd done this was the first time we'd ever been busted), we moved to the street corner near my house and ended up sitting in the street and playing Foursquare there. Photo taken April 10th 2011 by Nicole Barens.
A stoop photo taken at my birthday party, inspired by the famous Art Kane Jazz Portrait photo from Harlem 1958. Photo taken October 10th 2010.

A New Discovery Awaits You

2011-03-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there is a massive network of semi-secret walking trails running for hundreds of miles throughout every area of San Francisco which, if they were used more often, could have profound implications for our daily lives?

How could this be the case? Where are these trails?

These trails are everywhere. They are the middle of the street.

It's possible to walk across almost whole neighborhoods down the middle of the road. I have spent entire evenings doing it.

Instead of a relatively narrow strip of sidewalk, the walker enjoys a wide open space with fine views of the buildings on both sides of the street as well as all the way up the road. Not only is this more pleasant than sticking to the sidewalk but it's also fascinating to discover a new way of exploring the urban landscape. What was previously dead space to one's mind comes alive and one ponders upon other possibilities for this re-discovered land.

“But isn't this dangerous?”, you might ask. Not in my experience. You could suss the below within minutes of center-street walking, but here are some safety tips for this kind of rambling:-

This works best on residential streets that are not major traffic thoroughfares.
Walk anywhere on the left side of the street from just left of the center outwards, facing oncoming traffic.
The less of an incline the street has the better. Avoid steep hills or anywhere with limited visibility, such as intersections, and places that encourage fast driving.
Keep your eyes and ears open for the sound of automobiles and generally use common sense.

“Surely, people in their cars will get annoyed”, others might say. I doubt it. Just move aside if a car comes along. A smile and a wave will easily erase any potential frustration caused by slowing down for a few seconds. After this pleasant interaction, the person driving might even come out of it happier than before.

“Won't the police take issue with this?” As far as I know, there are no laws against walking in the street, there is only an expectation that you won't needlessly inhibit the passage of automobiles. Be courteous and you should be fine.

If you have questions about this activity, try it for yourself and see how it feels. Don't believe anything I say without gaining your own evidence. That said, I've done this many times and have found the experience to be pleasant and safe.

Center-street walking is no whimsical activity. Imagine if this habit became a cultural norm, as it once was before the automobile age. A new kind of democracy would literally take to the streets. Cars would take their rightful place as just one of many uses of the public realm. Public space would become a place for a multitude of activities, such as walking; sitting; socializing; and enjoying many activities usually performed inside, like reading, eating, and so on.

The fabric of modern life would begin to shift from isolation to community. As faces became more familiar, social bonds would begin to develop and gradually the network that once gave us such happiness, safety, and security would re-emerge.

Pushing back into the streets will help restore the sense of community so missing from modern life. This can begin with a stroll down the middle of the road or by socializing with your neighbors in the street. Take some friends or neighbors for a walk and share the enjoyment of this new strolling style. Encourage other people to do the same and perhaps a new culture will emerge. Observe the effects of center-street walking on your own consciousness.

A new discovery awaits you...

If you want to be free, read this

2011-03-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder...

Why are so many people so lonely and depressed?
Why do you have to spend so much of your time working?
Why don't we feel a sense of community any more?
Why are we watching ourselves destroy our natural heritage and yet feel powerless to do anything?
How have corporations and governments become so powerful and dangerous?
Why is the world around us so confusing and frightening?

It is possible, I believe, to identify why something about modern life feels “off”. In this writing, I will discuss the different elements of this cause and what you can start doing about it.

What is this cause?

The cause is a system: The system of control.

We live in a system of control - one not consciously created by any one group of people - so broad, so powerful, and so total that its presence is invisible to many people. But let us be clear: You are controlled, I am controlled, we are all controlled. Given the way of life many people lead, they may not want to think too much about this system or they may not care because the system rewards them so heavily for their participation and obedience.

So, before we go on, you must ask yourself a crucial question: Does it matter to you whether or not you are a slave? If not, you can stop reading now. If you do care, let's continue...

How are you controlled?

This is a profound question. Consider this for yourself before reading on. The main organs of control that keep you enslaved include:-

The media

The media – internet, television, radio, movies, music, and so on – attempt to replace your eyes and ears and your thoughts and beliefs with their own. The media may convey beneficial information, but are also sophisticated mind-control devices beyond your ability to resist. They deceive through lies or the use of isolated truths, sell through overt or covert advertising, encourage passivity, and maintain power.

Once your resistance to this is broken down, you become a docile baby to be spoon-fed concepts such as passivity, obedience before power, and consumerism. You are an open vessel into which someone else's motives can be poured and the one motive above all is the acquisition of power.

The internet

I single out this particular medium because many people say, “But the internet is different to one-way media like television. The internet is an open forum for all ideas and viewpoints and it lets us organize.” That is true for a small number of motivated people but for many more people the internet is just a hyper-television with even more powerful and subtle tentacles whose end result is indoctrination and addiction, passivity and docility. Even for the doers, the internet discourages personal interactions and perpetuates dependency on corporate power.

Comfort

Your comforts are used to control you. Comforts dull the mind, soothe the body, and sap radical motivation. Sofas, movies, music, books, electronics, appliances, sports, cars, holidays, and food ensnare the majority and encourage them to ignore this way of life's adverse effects.

The rule of law (also known as the threat of law)

As the law is what the elite – the judges, law-makers, and politicians – says it is, it follows that the law's main purpose is to preserve the advantages of the rich and powerful. The law perpetuates systematized violence at the hands of the power-holders. The police and military have a monopoly on the use of violence – and it's the rich and powerful who say when and how that violence can be deployed.

The law creates a psychological dependence on the state by saying that people can't decide for themselves what is moral and communities cannot choose what is allowed in their own environments.

The law follows you wherever you go – it's the voice in the back of your head warning you of punishment for this or that. It's a tight leash on the actions of individuals and communities and a free rein for wealthy individuals and governments and corporations to do as they please.

You are never free of the law's threat of violence. For instance, what would happen if you stopped paying rent because your landlord had enough money already? Eventually, a man with a gun (a police officer) would come to your door and take you away. In every day life, you don't notice this ever-present threat because you've been indoctrinated to follow the rules.

Co-opting your concerns

The public is more informed than ever before about important issues. This presents a potential threat to those whose power depends on maintaining the way things are, with all its adverse effects. The response is to co-opt you by making it appear that your worries have been addressed.

Three examples:-

1) Concerns about government secrecy have lead to many laws concerning access to law trials and public hearings and government communications (“sunshine” ordinances). However, of course, both the laws that govern decision-making in courts and decisions following public hearings are made behind closed doors. Anyone who attends public hearings will tell you how public testimonies seem to be a mere formality provided by the government to give the illusion of democracy.

2) Concerns about protecting the environment have given rise to government environmental departments and laws and the money-dependent mainstream environmental movement. These efforts have all been co-opted to maintain the current balance power. Really addressing ecological concerns would require a dramatic shrink in both the balance and the amount of power. That's why, for all the decades of environmentalism, nothing has fundamentally changed – the destruction of the natural world continues.

3) Elections promote the illusion of democracy and mask the real dictatorship behind the curtain. The more powerful the political office, the smaller the chance of gaining a political position without the backing of corporations. Political candidates rarely differ on fundamentals – they offer no alternative to capitalism or to the current power structure. And there is no public election process to manage the machinery of government or the clandestine departments, such as the FBI and CIA, which operate as autonomous micro-governments free of public oversight.

Owning the productive resources that sustain you

This is known as capitalism. Access to the fundamentals of life – water, food, land, building resources, and so on – have been privatized and are controlled by corporations, by governments, or by both as it is impossible to say where corporations end and governments begin.

Without access, you become a serf on someone else's property. Your life and your time are now just another commodity in the system of control. The majority of your waking hours are spent working to pay a rich person to eat their food, live in their building, or access their resources. Notice how often you are referred to as a “consumer” or a “worker”. This is your value to the system and it dictates the shape of your whole life: “Work, consume, die.”

Money

The system of control depends on the continued eradication of social bonds that facilitate support, sharing, and community. Money eradicates social bonds. A social bond is created when someone gifts something to you; no bond is created when you pay for something. Your social score stays at zero. When money infiltrates every aspect of life, we are like heroin addicts, always divided, never satisfied. Money forces us all to prey on one another – governments prey on landlords, landlords prey on tenants, merchants prey on customers, workers prey on other workers. It is a vicious cycle.

Keeping you isolated

The streets are empty and dead, only cars go there now; there are no gathering spaces in many neighborhoods; we are busy and tired from work and cocoon ourselves inside at night; we no longer gather as neighbors but as private audiences before corporate entertainment; community is all but forgotten. Organizing to address big issues is discouraged and individual lifestyle decisions are advocated. By its nature, the system of control fears community and organization and attempts to keep us separated where we are most economically productive and less politically dangerous.

You do not question domination

Above all, the system of control requires that you do not question capitalism, industrialism, or authority. “There is no alternative to ownership of resources and you have no choice but to pay to access them; there is no alternative to digging things out of the ground, processing them, using them, and disposing of them when finished and salvation rests alone in the continued development of advanced technology; there is no alternative to this specific government and its authority is as natural and as inevitable as the air.”

What you can do

The system of control is everywhere. It dominates every aspect of life. We are all slaves before it. But the system is not so powerful that it cannot be fought. You can start fighting the system of control to replace it with freedom. Here are just a few of the many things you can do.

Admit that you are a slave

The slaves who acknowledge their status as slaves are slightly less enslaved than those who cannot even see their own jail. Think about the system of control and be honest about your status within it. This may be unpleasant to admit but will get much easier when we all realize that we're in this together. This will provide the first flickers of passion required to begin the path toward freedom.

Reduce media consumption to a minimum

Minimize your media exposure to free up time, restore a more accurate view of the world based on your own perceptions, free your mind of junk thoughts, and encourage proactivity over passivity. Don't feel obliged to have an opinion about everything; it is okay to say “I don't know.” And remember that all advertising is lies.

Simplify your life

Consumerism burdens and distracts you and keeps you working hard. Get rid of the things you do not need and do not allow new things to enter your life. Observe the emptiness that follows material acquisition and contrast that feeling with the satisfaction of community.

Use your own moral compass

Perhaps people who are connected to one another do not need the constant threat of punishment to live ethically. Maybe they can think for themselves. Think for yourself, not just about what the law says, when considering your actions.

Push back into the streets

We need to come together. Bring as many activities as possible - such as reading, writing, eating, and gathering - into the streets. Do more things communally. Think creatively about fun ways you can bring people out of their houses and how the streets can be transformed from a car thoroughfare back to a social living room. See here and here for ideas.

Question authority

The current government that claims to represent everybody is actually just a specific group of private individuals that wants you to take it seriously. It is up to you if this government has any more legitimacy than the guy on the street corner who's claiming that he's Jesus. Decide for yourself who and what is legitimate. If the government, or elements of the government, are not legitimate to you, work to create grassroots alternatives.

Build community, starting from your own front door

If I had to recommend one way to start doing something today, it would be to ring your neighbor's doorbell. Meet and build bonds with your neighbors, share what you have, remove money from your interactions, solve disputes on a community level, have fun together, perform random acts of kindness. See here for a great list of further suggestions.

Good luck and may you win the freedom that is your birthright.

The Unbearable Lightness of Giving Up A Cellphone

2011-01-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

The least expected element of the original Gubbins Experiment in 2009 - not riding in cars - seemed paradoxical: That giving up, or restricting use of, something can be liberating. How can limiting your access to convenience be liberating? That's completely antithetical to everything we're told in this marketing-consciousness-driven world where what we're told by corporations is what we believe.

It is not easy to describe why giving up cars was liberating. It was and is a very "feeling" experience and not easily captured by words. Perhaps the liberating comes from no longer identifying with something that bothered my conscience, or from standing far enough back to see the possibilities of a world not ruled by cars, or frankly just from living more - experiencing the elements, enjoying my own ability to get around.

The Gubbins Experiment for 2011 is replacing my cellphone with a landline telephone, which happened last Friday. I would have waited a little longer to gather more anecdotes about my experiences, but the days have been so exciting that the truth must come now. Below, I'm going to outline some negative experiences I was having with the cellphone, and then some positive experiences - many unexpected - of "reverting" to a landline.

Cellphones: A Bad Reception

1. Just work properly, dammit!

This problem may not be experienced by everybody, but my phone would often not tell me someone had just called, even if the ringer was on. Then there were the more common problems, such as unpredictable battery life and reception issues in my house. The cellphone just wasn't that reliable, which was really irritating.

2. Addicted to your love

Like many people, I often fought temptation with the cellphone. Should I check my messages? Has it been long enough since last time? When is X or Y going to call? Did my phone just vibrate in my pocket? Nope, but I thought it did. And so on...

Wherever I went, my cellphone and its attendant temptations followed me. I could receive a call or text at any moment; it could be from someone unexpected. I was never free. I wouldn't say I was obsessive, save for rare occasions when I was waiting a particular person to get in touch, but I was never off the hook.

3. The robots have landed

When you next have the chance, just before the beginning of the work day visit a stretch of street where people wait for public transit. Does anything look strange to you? Perhaps something reminiscent of a Dr Who episode where everyone is acting a bit odd?

You may have noticed how engrossed people are in their gadgets. It looks like their souls have been sucked into their iPhone, iPod, or iPad (damn you, Apple!). People's faces are dull, they are mute and isolated. Let your gaze wander further up the street and you may see folks all around in a similar condition. Walk into a cafe and see previous vibrant spaces turned into computer banks of drone workers. Have we become robots?

Techno-soul-sucking is claiming lives everywhere. It is a good reason to give up the cellphone.

4. Cellphone or cystphone?

Numerous friends of mine know folks whose doctors told them that their brain tumor arose from their cellphone use. Many of those people were early adopters of the technology in the early 1990s. Although mass adoption of cellphones occurred too recently for us to know for sure the link between cellphone-originated electromagnetic radiation and cancer (such a link might take several decades to manifest), the conversation is beginning to gather pace, spurred in thanks by a new book "Disconnect" by Dr Devra Davis (and by my friend Josh Hart!)

However, some facts are harder to dispute. One: The majority of industry-funded studies have not found a link between cellphones and cancer; whereas the majority of non-industry-funded studies have found a link (see here for more on this). Can't trust the corporations, can you? Two: Some people are electromagnetically-sensitive and become ill when near cellphones or cellphone towers or even other wireless devices. Do the rest of us also experience adverse effects but are just less sensitive to it?

I could not cite health concerns as a concrete reason to abandon the cellphone but it was a contributing factor. I am more cynical than I used to be: We live in a world of lies and half-truths created by the government and corporations (pretty much the same thing by this point) through advertising, propaganda, and endless entertainment. The power elite only tell you what's necessary for them to hold on to their power and wealth. Truth is not paramount. I do not trust the makers of these complex machines with my health and am more likely nowadays to kick it to the man on a whim.

The Lightness of a Landline

Why am I so impatient to tell you now about the landline-only experience? Here's why...

1. The thing actually works

No reception issues, no spent battery, every call is heard, the sound quality is back to acceptable, and the phone doesn't become a firebrick after half an hour. I'd forgotten what a reliable phone is.

2. I'm actually alive

Being out and about is a much more pleasant experience. When I'm in, I'm in; when I'm out, I'm out - it's that simple. There is no nagging concern about messages, no corporate machines tugging on my conscience, just the freedom to enjoy what's around me. It is interesting how subtle the bondage was when I first started using a cellphone back in 1999 and how obvious the freedom from it is now. It took me a while to identify the slavery effect but now I'm a free man. It is a great feeling.

3. Home means home

Perhaps the most fascinating effect has been how the landline has "grounded" my conception of home. Now that talking to someone not in my physical presence is exclusively a home activity (excepting using callboxes or others' cellphones, which I've not yet done), home feels more like home. It has more unique, definable qualities. Also, coming home is more pleasant because there is often the gift of a message waiting for me on the answermachine, which is a kind of "welcome home!"

4. I am using my brain again

Man, you have got to try using your brain - it feels great! I'm actually remembering numbers again (how many of your friend's phone numbers do you know?) and am enjoying once more spotting interesting patterns in people's numbers. And when leaving the house, I make sure that my journey is planned correctly and that I know where I've got to be at what time and have coordinated properly with other people.

5. Goodbye flakes

And no more last-minute flaking - take that, San Francisco! Once I'm out the door, I'm committed to fulfilling my promise to show up somewhere. Nobody can flake on me either and hide behind a subsequent wimpy text message. In fact, no lame text message conversations at all - woohoo! People may curse the day that my ditching the cellphone stopped them ditching me last-minute, but their honor may remain intact, which I hope they'll appreciate in the long term.

A Good Signal

Perhaps this had been coming for a while. In 2009/2010, for a while I developed a funny habit: If the situation permitted it, I'd throw my cellphone as far as possible. This was most common at the beach, where sand allowed a soft landing. It was a small gesture of rebellion against the cellphone. I enjoyed not sharing with others the same reverence for, and subservience to ("My preciousssssss"), the phone. Now, all this time later, the cellphone has truly been tossed.

Let me be clear that I am not making any predictions about the future. I may partially or completely change my mind about using cellphones and alter my ways again. That is my prerogative as a free man.

And I'm also not falling over to worship the landline either. Although its benefits compared to the cellphone many, I wonder what it was like when telephones first emerged in people's lives. Did they get lonelier now that neighbors weren't visiting as often? Did the process of techno-isolation that keeps so many people locked in their rooms in front of televisions and computers begin with the phone? Certainly, phones are marvelous devices but what communication gadget hasn't taken a piece of us in return for its power? Look at children today, born into a cellphone world, and tell me if you like what you see.

There will certainly be many occasions where lacking a cellphone may result in inconvenience. Perhaps I'll be waiting around for an hour without knowing where the other person is. Maybe I'll be stuck somewhere, unable to find a payphone, and needing to reach someone asap. Or I might trek hours to a destination, only to discover that the person couldn't make it and had been unable to reach me with the news. Those situations will happen. On the other hand, I doubt that anybody will suffer injury or death from me not owning a cellphone.

But must I enslave myself around the clock just for the odd occasion where a cellphone might save me? I would rather be free and take a rough edge now and again. The downsides are occasional, the upsides are constant. It feels like a little piece of me has been rescued and delivered back into freedom. The Sound of Music is playing and your Gubbins is a-skipping through the hills.

I can already predict the reaction of many. It will be exactly the same response as when I gave up cars: "You can do it, but I can't - my lifestyle won't allow it". Okay, I cannot claim that everybody's lifestyle will be as unimpacted as mine has been. Sure, many people could give up their cellphones, or limit their use, or try either course for a limited time. But the main purpose of this blog is not to encourage you to do what I've done; this blog is merely to get you thinking. If any of this sparks interesting thoughts in your own mind, mission accomplished my end.

I'll leave that to you. I'm off a-skipping...

Restoring the public realm, one parklet at a time

2011-01-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, people filled the streets. Keeping one eye open for slow-moving horse-based vehicles, people young and old were free to walk, gather, sit, and play in the street. Of course, that changed in the 20th century when the streets become geared around automobile movement and away from people gathering. People were separated from their neighbors and forced off the streets and into their homes.

However, recently there has begun the first shoots of a return to better times. Small pockets of streets are returning to their old roles as congregating areas. Here in San Francisco, one of the most exciting new hopes is the "parklet" program. Parklets are sidewalk extensions that reappropriate parking spaces into public seating areas. In these spaces, people can sit, read, meet their neighbors and friends, and enjoy the world around them. Perhaps the most well-known example is outside Mojo Cafe on Divisadero Street, a 3-space wooden decking area with tables, chairs, and bicycle parking. It has been a huge success and the locals love their parklet.

Here in the Inner Sunset, myself and others have been working with local residents and businesses to install a parklet where it is almost certainly most needed: Outside the popular Arizmendi Bakery on 9th Avenue. Here, people frequently spill out from the bakery onto the sidewalk, blocking access for other pedestrians. So many people have said "We need gathering spaces in this neighborhood!", so some of us got together to make it happen.

Our aims with the Arizmendi parklet are to:-

1. Relieve congestion at this section of sidewalk.
2. Create the Inner Sunset's first outdoor public gathering space, a place where you don't need to be anybody's customer and which can be accessed any day and any hour.
3. Draw more foot traffic up 9th Avenue to less frequented businesses.
4. Add an attractive piece of street furniture to the Inner Sunset.
5. Encourage the development of community in the neighborhood.

Sign our Arizmendi Parklet petition and show your support!

Want to see the proposed design by local architect Jack Verdon? Voila!

Pretty nice, eh? Here's some more concept images...

I be diggin', you be diggin', we all be diggin'. And the SF Planning Department also be diggin', having recently approved our application. Victory! But we still need to demonstrate public support at a hearing later this month. We need YOU. If you support this parklet, please show it.

Sign our Arizmendi parklet Petition and take a moment to help us out. No money is needed, just a little of your time.

I'll update you on how things go at the public hearing also more about the parklet itself, including materials used, and so on.

Thank you for supporting us!

Adam

Announcing the Inner Sunset Holiday Card Challenge - updated

2010-12-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

There are few more satisfying things in life than belonging to a community. Faces become friendly and familiar, help is always available, and company is a doorbell away. There is infinite potential in knowing your neighbors. Ringing the doorbell is one of the most revolutionary things you can do. And, if you wanted to, you could do it right now.

It helps to have a premise, though. That's why this holiday season, myself and many other community members are launching the Inner Sunset Holiday Card Challenge. Our goal is to have as many blocks in the neighborhood as possible with at least one resident hand-delivering holiday cards to their neighbors. The dream is eventually to reach every block in the neighborhood, every resident addressed as "neighbor" and feeling part of the community.

You are invited to join us! Please email me at adam@inner-sunset.org with the block to which you will deliver cards. There will be an orientation meeting on Wednesday 15th December at 7pm, 616 Irving (the old MetroPCS store) for those who want to take part.

Here's some more information and advice about the Challenge:-

We don't have funds for this so you need to get the cards yourself. You can make or buy them. Either way, don't spend too much money.
You can visit as many or as few neighbors on your block as possible. We recommend everybody if you can but do what your schedule permits.
Ring the doorbell first but if nobody is home, drop the card through the mailbox.
There is no specific date you have to do this, although after the orientation meeting is a good idea.
We advise not to enter apartment buildings unless you know a resident there.
Consider putting a contact in your card, such as an email address. This allows follow up and the possibility of more community-building after the holidays.
Following on from that, try to think how you might turn this important visit to your neighbors into something longer lasting. Encourage your neighbors to get in touch and think of some things you might want to do together at a later date.
If you need a buddy to do the rounds with, let me know and I'll try to partner you up.
If you want to photograph yourself handing a card to someone, email it to me at adam@inner-sunset.org and we'll make a montage! Please also consider emailing me after your rounds and tell me how it went.

Community-building is not somebody else's or the government's task, it is ours. Nobody else is going to do it apart from us. Going door to door is the only way we are going to make the Inner Sunset the real neighborhood it could be. That's why we're inviting you to get involved. And you should: Once you get going, this is tremendous fun. Every year I've done this, more neighbors have invited me in, to the point where I am fed and tipsy by the time I reach home!

And if you're reading this and do not live in the Inner Sunset, how about doing this in your neighborhood??

See you at the orientation meeting next Wednesday.

Happy holidays from your neighbor,

Adam

5 Ways We Are Slaves

2010-09-02T00:55:00.001-07:00

We live in times of great abundance and daily marvels accessible to almost everybody. Even people of modest means may fly to any country in the world, listen to music from pocket devices, talk to friends at any distance while walking down the street, and hoard mountains of stuff in their houses.

And yet, for all these impressive abilities, you are not free. In fact, we are the powerful's bitch - the power elite comprising governments, wealthy individuals, corporations and other power centers.

Here are 5 ways in which you and I are slaves; there are many other things I could mention. If the below either completely or partially applies to you or if this is grist for your mental mill then color me happy.

And I'll be clear up front: I say the below because I think we should work together to become free.

1. Your job is unfulfilling

Most people I know dislike the activity in which they spend most of their time engaged - ie. their job. In such a complex society, most jobs are by necessity highly specialized and abstract. How does this bit of computer code fit into the big picture again? Damned if I know. You'll never see a physical real world output, like a chair with little horse heads carved into the heads. The best is that you help facilitate a chair imported from China by Ikea - which is technically a non-profit organization, by the way. You're not making much money - shouldn't you be a non-profit too?

Many fine, intelligent people I know do jobs that are an insult to that person's potential. Their jobs are dull, repetitive, simple, and abstract - and they often do them for ethically unsound employers. I know few people who are happy with their place in their world. Many download music illegally or smoke a bit of pot and get their rush of rebelliousness that way. But nonetheless, they - as with you and I - are bitches. Of the rich. Who have very nice jobs next to swimming pools.

2. The powerful guilt trip you into taking shorter showers but they're taking 97% of the water

I hate "green" advice. I used to be a "green" before I realized that this is dialogue promoted by the rich to their bitch underlings to keep the latter in their place. You take your 5-minute showers when industry uses 97% of the water. Even if you and everyone you know took shorter showers, the effects would be minimal. That goes for eating less meat, driving less, and so on. In 2007, the BBC's Justin Rowlatt and his family did everything they felt was reasonable for a middle class family to do to cut carbon emissions - no meat, no cars, no flying, etc. And they cut their emissions by 20%. 20%! And that's by doing way more than you or I reasonably would.

By all means do those things - I do - but do them because they reflect your honor and integrity, not because they are going to by themselves change the world.

Individual "green" (ah, forget the speech marks, such a discredited word doesn't need them anymore) acts are promoted by the powerful to the people, even though it's the powerful that do the majority of the harm. Pumping such advice to us keeps us divided and busy achieving nothing. My biggest gripe is the idea that you can solve the problems caused by industrialism with more industrialism. That is classic rich to the bitch talk and it's nonsense.

Of course, the powerful would never promote regime-change if that was the real solution (which it is). Instead, they peddle off green crap to us. Them = Rich, You = Bitch.

On a side note - did you realize that smoking is better for the environment than driving a Prius. It's not hard to work out why. Smoke on!

3. They isolate and distract you from what really makes you happy

You have a million songs in your iPod, your iPhone lets you listen to police radio in Wyoming, your iPad lets you move things around on a screen with your fingers. You have an HD TV, you can watch 3D at the movies, you have so many nice clothes. "Pah!", you say. "I'm no bitch".

But, guess what: You're not really happy. It's been shown many times over that it's not gadgets that make us happy. In fact, according to the US General Social Survey, which has taken surveys since 1972, what makes us happy is, in order:-

1. Family relationships
2. Financial situation
3. Work
4. Community and friends
5. Health
(Also listed but are unranked are...)
6. Personal freedom
7. Personal values

I bet you don't have a lot of that, do you? Instead, you're working your butt off in the day and at night you're sitting alone in your house in front of a screen. You've never met your neighbors, you're too tired to do anything interesting other than watch drivel produced by the powerful.

4. We are trapped in Wage Slavery

As I said earlier, you have many trivial liberties at your disposal - such as easy access to songs, movies, or digital representations of other members of your species - but you are lacking in essential liberties like, oh, freedom.

For instance, say you want to work just a little bit, perhaps three days a week instead of five, so you can spend more time with your friends and family. Sorry, you have pay the person who owns your building, the companies that produce your food, the government that lights your streets and wastes your money on wars, and Apple which makes the gadgets without which you will lose credibility in your social sphere. You have been denied access to all essential resources. The rich own those and you will have to pay them for every single one.

You really will have to work very hard for all those things. This is called Wage Slavery. The reason the rich freed black people from bondage is that everybody became systemic slaves, so it was okay to loosen the physical shackles. Now there are systemic shackles and we're all in them.

5. You have no control or oversight over the rich, like they do over you. You do not live in a democracy.

Voting once every four years for one of two very similar candidates (when they don't have the real power anyway) is not democracy. It's a sham. How do you influence which wars we fight? How can you wrap your head around complex financial systems to detect systemic crime? How do you stop local government blowing your money on paying retired police officers to occupy mansions?

"Oh", you say. "We vote in politicians who right the wrongs". No, you don't. Politicians don't make those issues part of their campaigns, so you can't tell who supports what. Of course they're mum on these things: most of them are benefiting from the things you hate.

While you can't touch the powerful, their golden fingers are all over you. While systemic corporate crime goes unpunished, there's a litany of criminal sanctions for every area of your life. And your phone calls are recorded, your internet monitored, your rights consistently eroded. Watch as the noose continues to tighten over the years to come.

Now this is everybody

Realizing that we are indeed slaves is a critical first step in righting the wrongs and winning back our freedom. Liberty is an essential part of a fully realized life. The power structure will do its best to convince you that you're free, but it doesn't seem hard to me to work out that you are not free.

What are you going to do about this? Perhaps you don't care. No worries. Someone else can survive when the powerful want to cash in their assets - and you are one of their assets.

I've been contemplating the beginnings of an approach to deal with these things. Most people could reasonably work out what needs to be done. Throughout history, people have occasionally done exactly that. But this being the internet, I'm not comfortable with vocalizing these things so you'll have to track me down in person to hear my thoughts. I know many of you have the same thoughts because you've told me.

I suggest we get together and do something about it. Despite all the suffering and destruction, this is a beautiful, wonderful world and we are lucky beyond description to be alive. What gifts. It's our responsibility to make the most of our precious time on this blue jewel in the cosmos. And it starts with freedom.

15 Pieces of Advice for an Uncertain Future

2010-07-27T12:31:00.001-07:00

These are heavy, heavy times for those who have opened the Pandora's Box of awareness. I could not begin to describe to you the emotions I experience every day as a result of my research about the future.

I'm not going to spell out the details here of why I have reached that position. This piece is for those who have made some progress in educating themselves about peak oil, energy scarcity, and the behavior of the power elite. Note that I do not profess to have attained all the below myself or that I am 100% correct in my assertions.

1. Educate yourself about peak oil and its ramifications for our civilization.

2. Move out of LA, Las Vegas, and other big cities. In the likely scenario of an imminent long-term energy crisis, those energy-dependent places will probably become dangerous and unstable places to live.

3. Wean yourself as soon as possible off of corporate technologies, such as cellphones and the internet.

4. Acquire basic skills, suitable for a powered-down future, such as food-production, clothes-making, and so on.

5. Read The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins, the Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler, and Endgame by Derreck Jensen.

6. All scales of government - nation, state, and city - energy-dependent administrative structures that they are, and the corporations that we are almost entirely dependent upon, are likely to begin terminal contraction and collapse in the near future. Learn to live without them.

7. Like the biological organisms that they resemble to an extent, government, corporations, and other such large institutions become dangerous in the event that they begin to lose power/life. Prepare for this scenario.

8. Learn to identify the distractions in your life and systematically eliminate them.

9. Watch less television, use the internet less. Shake off the digital haze.

10. Live in the moment, but prepare for the future.

11. Learn more about the history of national governments and how they have always treated the overseas poor and native peoples who have presented obstacles to the acquisition of power and riches.

12. Visit your neighbors now. Break the ice with some cookies. Get to know them. These simple acts may one day save your life.

13. Do whatever it takes to shake off apathy. Read books, talk to people, share your views, find the people you need to move forward. Then get to action.

14. Understand the difficulty of telling ourselves the truth about probable scenarios for the future. Know that the dominant messages promulgated by the power elites are fixated on preserving an unstable and dangerous way of life. Tell yourself the truth and work through your fear.

15. Regardless of how likely that future is, construct and embrace a realistic, educated, and positive vision of the future and begin working toward that future.

I believe that acting on some or all of the above will affect whether or not you are one of the masses running around like headless chickens, scrambling for food and water in the post-peak oil long emergency, or are someone who is prepared, smart, and part of a community that gets it.

The Plaza is Free

2010-05-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's not every day that you can say, "I just helped organize the best event of my life". But right now, that's exactly how I feel after having just co-chaired and co-organized, with Chris Duderstadt and our fellow team members, the first ever Inner Sunset Street Fair.

For over ten hours on May 15th, we booted the cars out of two streets and brought in live music, circus entertainment, arts and crafts booths, a history exhibit, kids entertainment, non-profits, open-air yoga and tai chi, and lots more. Despite the chilly air (I can't even count the times I've heard "Boy, was that a cold day... but great event, though!"), the view was great to behold and I'm really proud of what we organizers pulled off. The streets are so much more beautiful when full of people, instead of cars, interacting and getting to know one another.

On that day, people asked me "Why did you do this?" The honest answer is that I did it (and bear in mind that this was a collaborative effort, of which I was one part) because it felt like the right thing to do. But there are good reasons this neighborhood - or any neighborhood - needed a street fair, reasons that go to the heart of community organizing. Knowing one's neighbors is good for all kinds of reasons - sharing resources, looking out for each other on the streets, mutual protection in hard times, creating affection for a particular place, good company, and so on.

But we are an isolated society where many of us no longer experience neighborhood-level community. Many of us don't live where we were born, we don't own our homes, and we live in places where people constantly move in and out of the area. All we have ever known is a society transfixed by television, computers, and electronic gadgets. Holograms are more familiar to us than reality and often we interact more through our machines than in person. Cars have pushed people out of the streets and into their buildings. The public realm has become a place mostly dedicated to the storage and movement of dangerous chunks of metal; it is a place no longer meant for people. As a result, we don't know our neighbors - the idea hasn't even dawned on us.

To anybody who understands this and wants to do something about it, the first need is to secure common space for people to congregate. Unfortunately, here in the US, the public realm as a place to come together has been forgotten. We have few plazas and squares (our parks are rarely located right in the center of our neighborhoods next to shops and residences and so are poor substitutes for plazas) and we are treated much more as consumers than as citizens. Most places open to the public are there to offer them something in exchange for money. But we have few spaces to meet or to fill with civic or cultural expression. That is true across San Francisco and it is certainly true here in the Inner Sunset.

When we started working on the Inner Sunset Street Fair, we embraced the notion of both the plaza concept and of treating people as citizens first. We rejected the approach taken by many street fairs where people mainly walk around looking at things they might possibly buy, before leaving and going home. At our fair, on Irving Street (the first of the two streets blocked off to traffic) we put out hundreds of chairs and tables, creating a sort of outdoor cafe environment for civic gathering. We also made sure that all of the ten booths on this street were non-profits selling nothing, only sharing ideas. (At one end of the street, Randy Schiller - a local events producer - set up a sound stage for a full day of music.)

This differed from typical street fairs because we encouraged people to sit and enjoy the public realm as citizens. We hoped they would see public space as something that can be used for congregating, not just for accommodating cars. Specifically, we wondered what people might think of this specific street - would this be a good place to open up to people more often? What happens to one's wellbeing when spaces like this are accessible to us?

One of the day's highlights on Irving was the swing dance lesson given by Hep Jen and Ken Watanabe. A more perfect community-builder I cannot imagine. People partnered with others they already knew to practice dance but then had to rotate partners several times. The result was strangers of all kinds dancing together who would never usually interact. This was a marvel to see.

On 10th Avenue, the second of our two streets, we used the street to highlight local organizations and handmade crafts. We featured thirty booths, grouped by category into arts and crafts, health and fitness, entertainment, and social organizations. To celebrate local talent, we sought out Inner Sunset organizations before going beyond the neighborhood. We always looked for those who could share something that would be memorable for people. We tried to make participants aware that we didn't want any booths just to be brochure dispensaries, which generally act as space-fillers at many street fairs. We wanted every booth to be interactive in some way, so that people could learn something, rather than just be hailed for their money.

Some things in particular stood out on 10th Avenue. The booths for Out in the Fog (a local LGBT social group) and Art I.S. (an art collective) were big hits, full of hanging art, color, quirky elements, and people hanging out. I think this is because, unlike the standard kind of booth, these were neighborhood organizations that are themselves little communities. These booths were labors of love and it showed.

Also, Mr Barry, the kids' entertainer, drew a big crowd of not just children ("Where did all these kids come from?", said a neighbor), but of adults watching them. Many people are transfixed by small children - their innocence, enthusiasm, energy. Although it's a rare pleasure, I love being around children. Their spirits recharge adults and put something back in us that withers without youth surrounding us. One of the hallmarks of this isolated society is that children are very much hidden from us and many of us rarely interact with them. This is a heartbreak in our lives. For me, the stars of the Inner Sunset Street Fair were the children. Seeing them laugh and just walk around was enough for me. I enjoy the photos of the children at the event most of all.

Us organizers had never put on a street fair before and this experience gave us a great deal of insight. Looking forward to next year's event, here are five things I learned:

1. To make a successful plaza, you have to keep people around

Our vision of a pedestrian outdoor cafe/plaza was the right direction, but it was not fully realized this time around. We could put it down to the cold temperature, which did admittedly put a big damper over the day, but there are ways to deal with the cold. Most importantly, food needs to be offered on the street. This time, we decided instead to put up maps of where all the neighborhood restaurants are, intending for people to order takeouts and bring them back to the tables we provided. However, few people did this. As a result, there was little reason to sit at the tables and no hot foods or drinks to warm people up.

Also, this street actually turned out to be quiet a large space and I think we needed to fill more of it. It would have been perfect to have food vendors located right in the middle with chairs and tables clustered around them.

2. Every booth should be engaging

Although we encouraged vendors to be interactive and memorable, there were some brochure-dispensaries and only some booths were really inviting and engaging. Next year, we should work with every vendor - even those who are mainly there to sell stuff - to make sure there is some interactive part of their booth so that visitors are constantly engaged as citizens as well as customers. Perhaps, for instance, they could offer a kids activity or give a talk about how they make their wares. We should inform vendors that we don't want to be part of the "street fair circuit" - we are unique and special. If people want to make money at our event, they should give something back.

3. Offer lots for and by kids

People just love kids. Next year, we should have more kids entertainment but also offer them the chance to share their talents with the adults. Perhaps it could be singing or theatrical performances by local preschool children or something like that. It would be a deeply enriching experience for both the children and the adult audience.

4. People love to dance together!

The Lindy dance tutorial was really popular, as was the outdoors yoga and tai chi, so we should have more of that kind of thing. To avoid some of the dead air time where nothing was happening onstage, if we followed a musical performance immediately with a dance class, then the next band would have time to set up and could take over as soon as the dance was over.

5. Start planning early

We only really started the real work of organizing this event back in February/March, a very short amount of time to pull off something like this. As a result, lots of people - prospective vendors, co-organizers, merchants, and so on - complained that they didn't have enough notice to get involved or that they didn't have enough time to do things properly. It was me who pushed to have this event sooner than later and I often wondered, with all the push-back that we encountered, if I should have been more patient.

In retrospect, I'm kind of glad that we went for sooner than later because, as this was our first time, however long we'd have had, there would have been so much we'd only have learned on the day (such as what to do about freezing temperatures). So, I'd rather have spent less time this time around and learned from the result so that we get a better outcome once we put in the proper amount of time next time. Doing it earlier also means that we have more time before the next street fair; we can visit other street fairs for research and maybe we can even close our own streets again for smaller events in the meantime.

Because we learned so much from this event, I'm finding it almost impossible to dwell on what just happened. Instead, I'm transfixed on how good we could make the next event with what we've learned this time. Right now, everywhere I go, my mind is filled with visions of next time and how amazing it could be. I believe that next time, we will make the best street fair in San Francisco.

The Inner Sunset Street Fair 2011 won't be a corridor just for selling stuff, it won't be organized by corporations and hated by the residents, it wont be treated as part of the street fair circuit by vendors. Instead, it will be full of unexpected surprises, skill-sharing, talks on all kinds of subjects, local talent, lots of kids, neighbor parades, and so on. I see carnival, chaos, people enjoying the good life, kids running around, learning in the street. This will be something uniquely Inner Sunset but the rest of San Francisco's eyes will fall out of their heads when they see it.

I have to end with the amazing team with whom I worked on this project. Chris (my fellow co-chair), Trina, Ellen, Tanya, Wendy, Jason, Jim, Walter, Jamie, Blas, Brandi, Tracy, and Randy... you guys are amazing. A project with this many moving parts requires a lot of getting along, compromise, hard work, and talent. Our team was full of wonderful people. I can't imagine how we would have pulled this off without each other. What about next year, eh?

I have this cool t-shirt with velcro on the front to which you can attach letters to spell words. Here's what it said at the Inner Sunset Street Fair on May 15th 2010...

Q&A with Time's Brad Tuttle

2010-04-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

The more people ask me about not getting into a car for a year, the more I realize how much there is to say about the experiment. Funny, really, for something so ordinary. As a friend says, it says something (unflattering, I imagine) that someone not riding in a car for a year is news. Perhaps sometime soon it won't be.

Anyway, recently, I had a great Q&A with Time's Brad Tuttle. This was the material used for my brief mention in Time Magazine recently. Here's the Q&A...

Since the experiment has ended, have you gotten into a car? If so, what was it like? How did you feel?

I have not gotten into a car since the experiment ended. I was open to the idea but when push came to shove it didn't feel right. This year, I want to expand the experiment and see if I can do more, move heavier things around, and travel further than in 2009. As a next step, together with a few other people, I've bought the biggest bicycle trailer I could find - it's capable of pulling sofas.

What are some of the craziest comments/feedback you've gotten regarding the experiment?

The majority of reactions to my experiment were highly positive. The most rewarding feedback was someone who discovered my blog and tried a car-free February herself and found the experience enlightening. The craziest and most caustic comments I received were undoubtedly posted on the San Francisco Chronicle website but my friends and supporters told me not to read the comments, so I didn't. From what I hear, some comments were to the tune of "Go back to your own country" [I'm originally from the UK] and "What a self-righteous idiot". Not exactly constructive feedback!

And I think I asked you some variation of this before, but what were some of the toughest/most surprising moments for you in the course of the experiment. I think you've said that it wasn't really that hard for you, so maybe focus on what surprised you, or what seemed strange and unexpected about the experience.

There were many surprising moments:

- I was stunned at how much stuff can be pulled on a bicycle trailer. Once you get going, the trailer actually pushes you forward. It's like driving a bus, versus a car.

- It was a relief that destinations I'd always presumed would be hard to reach were actually surprisingly doable, especially with a mixture of bicycle and public transit. Those journeys often took me longer but were more exciting and adventurous.

- The toughest moments were when I visited other places and had to learn the quirks of their transportation networks. Marin County's bus stops are often tucked away in odd places and London, England is a nightmare to navigate by bicycle.

- Other tough moments were when I didn't plan ahead or didn't have access to the right gear. For instance, on my visit to the UK, I had to bicycle with 2 weeks of gear on my back, instead of in panniers or a bike rack. So I got really sweaty and steered like a drunken bear.

- Another hard element was that although I was able to move around by bicycle well, many of my friends are not so bicycle-savvy and public transit does not go everywhere. That limited the things I could do. In the long run, however, things are changing and bicycling and public transit are becoming more mainstream.

- I was pleasantly surprised at how understanding people were, even those who almost exclusively drive, about my experiment. Once I pointed out that I was doing it as a thought-provoker, not to preach or tell others what to do, people were very sympathetic to me.

- The most surprising realization the experiment taught me was that I don't need to travel far to see new and exciting things. Traveling without a car makes journeys more interesting and adventurous, meaning I don't have to go as far to enjoy myself.

The "Deprivation Experiment"

2010-04-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

The Gubbins Experiment joins "the Compact" and "A Dollar A Day" in this week's Time Magazine. The article "Cheap Thrills", on page 48 in the print edition or readable online, discusses how "deprivation experiments" are apparently all the rage with some people pledging not to buy clothes (underwear excused, though I don't know why!) for a year, spending no more than $1 American a day, or not riding in a car for a year. I like this quote from the article: "It's like everyone is doing their own version of Lent", according to AJ Jacobs, who lived for a year strictly according to the Bible (did he end up in prison??).

I doubt that's true. It's just these pledges have gotten more media attention recently, which is a good thing. I'm a bit bummed that my mention in the article boils down to saying that I "got ribbed by commenters after he [I] revealed that he had a friend pick up stuff he had bought at a lumberyard while he rode his bike home. One scathing commenter wrote that Greenfield's yearlong endeavor "proves nothing except that one individual can Rube Goldberg around getting in a car."", but the gist of the article is still a worthy entrant into the cultural dialogue. For the record, I don't remember getting ribbed by any commentators for that. I've always pointed out the "holes" in my experiment, which are, in my eyes, opportunities for consideration and refinement.

Even if I'd been ribbed, such a ribbing would remind me of the criticism directed my way when I first became a vegetarian back in 2006. Why was I giving up meat but not eggs, for example, which also come from the foul industrial food complex? Well, true, but perfection on the first step is unlikely. The point is to begin the journey and see where it takes you.

Before I started to think for myself, I did observe Lent for a few years as a child. The most sweat-inducing year was giving up my Sega Genesis for a whole month at the height of my love of the machine. At the time, it was, surprise surprise, probably (Catholic) guilt which motivated me, but looking back, I'm glad I did Lent. In a culture where consumption is the norm, people who actually restrain themselves are something of a rarity.

And there is much benefit to abstinence. People who look down on you for purposefully "punishing" yourself miss the point. Cutting things out can be great for health, time-management, the environment, or purely for appreciating how lucky you are to have what you have.

In fact, I've been conducting some other deprivation experiments this month. Recently, I've become frustrated at the addictive qualities of certain websites I frequent daily. Spending as many hours as I do at a computer, I've developed a twitchy instinct for checking back to those website far too often. Temptation is always dangling in front of me and has become a serious irritant. So, for a week, I'm abstaining from visiting those sites. One is the big Prince fansite Prince.org, the other one is a videogames website (which is good, since I no longer buy nor play videogames, but still follow the market, for some reason). Already, it has been a relief to have those sites out of my week. Maybe I should try this sometime with... gasp... the whole Internet.

So, dour as it sounds, deprivation experiments can be very positive. Any ideas for one of your own?

Trailing behind

2010-03-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's obvious by now that The Gubbins Experiment will now be running in 2010, beyond the end of the 2009 one-year run. Partly, it's the "high score" mentality compelling me: I want to keep it going and see how long it can run for.

But another big advantage is the opportunity to plug the gaps in the experiment that I discovered last year, chiefly situations where, for instance, someone and I do the same A-to-A-via-B trip for my benefit (eg. hauling mulch back to my house) but I do it on a bike and they do it in a car. Those instances initially make my experiment look a little silly because we're doing exactly the same journey and for my benefit.

But it is a good opportunity to make improvements. A great new way to do that finally happened yesterday. My three friends - Bill, Chris, and Thomas - split the cost of a bicycle trailer with me. We bought the biggest model we could find:

It's a Bikes At Work 96A trailer. To quote the manufacturer, it "is designed to carry six waterproof 18 gallon (68 liter) Rubbermaid Roughtote plastic containers (sold separately, but also available locally), each of which can carry two large paper bags of groceries. In addition to groceries, these trailers are useful for carrying things like recyclables, newspapers, ladders, and furniture. This trailer can carry loads up to 300 lbs (136 kg)."

Basically, this thing hauls serious cargo. It will allow me to cut out some of the occasions where someone had to drive around on my behalf. One more step to self-sufficiency.

We assembled the trailer yesterday and the process was captured on videocamera, so here it is [for some reason, part of the video is cut off so double-click the video to open it in Youtube]. Time-lapse affectionados will be happy...

Little Gubbins Experiments

2010-02-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

February is a month of little Gubbins Experiments. For me, as well as continued car-free-ness, this month is intoxicant-free too: I'm calling it Fudge-Free February (my brain won't be fudged). As with the car-centric Gubbins Experiment, there's a clear purpose for me doing this but I'm also interested in the unforeseeable psychological experience along the way - and I'm not doing this as a statement about anyone else. In other words, no "holier than thou" sentiments around here. You do your thing and I'll do mine.

The ostensible reason for FFF reflects my personal battle with intoxicants since my early 20s. No, I have never had an alcohol or drug problem, addiction, or anything like that. I'm fairly par for the course in how much and how often I consume them. If anything, I'm a little on the light side. But the effects on the clarity of my mind and the dependency that arises over time (eg. "I'm at a party - I must drink") have long bothered me. Why do I feel the need to use such blunt instruments to have a good time? What does it say about the things I do when my primary recollections sometimes revolve around substance-driven behavior?

I've never made substantial conclusions about these questions, but recently I'd also been getting bothered by the constant "shall I, shan't I?" questions whenever I'm in a social environment and considering consumption. There's also the cost: $5 for one drink (the standard rate for beer plus tip here in San Francisco) seems a real rip-off to me. If our economy really depends on these kinds of purchases, maybe we need to rethink things. But most of all, the Gubbins Experiment showed me a little about the joys of simplicity. Chiefly for that reason, I decided to go for FFF. Simple is easy and easy is good.

This reminds me of another Gubbins Experiment of mine, began back in late 2001. At the time, I was having an issue with using all this shampoo, coming out of the shower with whispy light hair, and then using a ton of gel to keep my hair down. Did I even need shampoo? What would happen if I stopped using it? Although I didn't really ask around, I'd never heard of anyone who'd stopped using shampoo.

So, I thought I'd give it a go, just to see what would happen. Well, not much happened, apart from the pleasant effect that my hair became stronger and a little thicker with the natural oils remaining in. I asked a few people about the all-important smell issue and almost everyone said that it just smelled like "natural hair"; certainly not bad. (The only people who said it smelled were the people who had been most shocked by the idea before even sampling the results, which leads me to believe that their noses were being lead by their minds.) Thus, I never used shampoo again and I've been happy ever since.

But even if folks don't want to completely go without shampoo, they could even try forgoing it for a week or so to see what happens - or they could try alternating between shampoo showers and shampoo-free showers. It never harms to keep all these chemicals out of the water system.

Of course, many people might disagree with me about the shampoo thing. If so, there's plenty of other experiments to try. It's a great experience to try an experiment or two with your habits. My heart is warmed by San Francisco resident Colleen, who contacted me recently to say that she's going car-free in February, using her MUNI fast pass. So far, Colleen is doing fine, apart from an almost back-breaking haulage onto the bus of beer (bought for her significant other, I should add) back to her home. Interestingly, her car-free experiences have made Colleen more aware of how much trash there is on the streets. Keep sharing your observations, Collen, and good luck for the rest of the month.

A strange dream

2010-02-08T15:31:00.001-08:00

Last night, I had a very strange dream. It was the closest to a nightmare I've had in a long time. I'm certainly glad I woke up before it got any worse...

As with most dreams, my recollection is a mixture of images and feelings without images. I remember a man in a hall talking to a large audience - perhaps worldwide - from a podium. He talks about how we had the chance to do something about the situation humankind finds itself in, with the speed at which we are poisoning the natural systems upon which our survival depends. There is no accompanying image, but it seems like I'm one of the audience members. Along with everyone else, I feel a crushing sense of sadness. We have failed to address our problems and the end (whatever that means) is coming. Humans are a failed species.

Then (and perhaps this is the more traditional part of the dream), I am hiding with others in a dark house. Destructive humanoid machines, reminiscent of The Terminator, are descending upon us to destroy us. The last thing I see before awakening is the machine standing at the door, it's red eyes piercing the darkness.

I awoke, full of fear. It was perhaps 4am and still pitch dark. The dream was an extrapolation of a growing fear within me that as a species, we just don't care about the destruction we are bringing down on the planet. Almost nobody is doing anything. Most people I know barely care at all.

That's not a criticism of them, just a realization that it is very hard for people to wrap their brains around the enormity of the challenges we face and the scale of what we must accomplish to even be remotely prepared. And we are too busy just getting by. I wonder if the best we will actually end up achieving is that a few people will make big strides but the vast majority of people will only wait and react when the worst hits. As a species, we will not change the systems at the root of the problem - we will wait for the systems to fall and drag us down with them. How bad it gets will depend on who you are and where you live.

This returns me to the critical element of consciousness-raising. Preparing for the future will involve a combination of cleaning our ways and re-learning skills and habits for a scaled-down future made by hand. The only way to get moving is to jolt ourselves from our old patterns, shake up our brains, and act.

For me, going car-free for a year was a great consciousness-raising tool but I must continue. I've considered a range of brain-jolting ideas but as of yet haven't settled on any one idea. I'm sure that whatever I decided, a lot of people would try to persuade me not to go through with it! But my aim is not to attract support, but to do something of value to my own and others' consciousnesses. Let's see what happens...

Best interview yet

2010-01-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of joining Jeremy Pollock, Andy Blue, and Patricia "Tish" Decker on The League of Pissed Off Voters show on San Francisco's Pirate Cat Radio. To get to the station, you have to go through the small and charming Pirate Cat Cafe, which shares a large window with the radio station. I could hang out there all day long. This is my kind of community space.

It's funny that doing CNN International felt like small talk at a community television studio - I was alone on a simple chair talking to an anchor in London or Hong Kong about little anecdotes like riding to my brother's wedding in the rain. On the other hand, Pirate Cat covered both cheeky anecdotes and the big issues. I was very impressed with these guys, who had read all my blog posts and the numerous articles about The Gubbins Experiment. It was my best interview yet.

We discussed some of the juiciest topics already written about on this blog and much more so check out the podcast. One of the early questions: Why does The Gubbins Experiment make some people so mad??

The Gubbins Experiment talks $$$ on Time.com

2010-01-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my new journalist pal Brad Tuttle, The Gubbins Experiment is now on Brad's Money Matters blog on Time.com in the form of a Q&A with me. Check it out.

When Brad approached the Experiment from a money perspective, I was initially hesitant. I have almost no knowledge of how much it costs to buy and operate a car. The only car I ever "owned" was bought by my parents for my 18th birthday and I smashed that into undriveable pieces after 6 months.

I should probably get that little story off my chest. Months into my new life as a young driver back in 1998, I had become careless and reckless. I was driving too fast and making too many mistakes. On one occasion, I fully mounted the sidewalk as full speed as I turned my head to see if the fish and chip shop across the road was open.

But on the fateful night, I was racing to catch up with a friend. I remember my top speed being at around 50mph. Just a few minutes from my house, my tires lost traction and the car hit the roadside wall and bounced back across the road. When we landed and came to a standstill, we were touching the front of the car that had been coming the other way. One reckless driver, his passenger, and an oncoming motorist could all have been injured or killed that night. I wonder, in any given year, how many reckless young people like me aren't so lucky.

Anyway, back to $$$. I never bought a car or paid for insurance and was fortunate enough to have my gas paid for by my parents for a while. By the time I was paying for my gas, I was a university student and only drove occasionally when on semester breaks. In 2003, I bought a very cheap second-hand car in Australia and drove the entire east coast from Sydney to Cairns. I don't remember gas expenses, which I was always sharing with at least one other person, being an issue. After that, I settled back into life as a cyclist with the occasion use of my mother's car when I was back in Guernsey. Years before The Gubbins Experiment, the car was already a small part of my life.

So, I've little knowledge about the costs associated with car ownership, either in the US or in the UK. But my Q&A with Brad was a reminder that giving up the car is also a great money-saver. It's amazing how much money is spent on something that spends 95% of its life sitting doing nothing. Cars are so expensive; it would be torture for a perpetual money-saver like me to spend so much on an auto. Once you realize that gas prices are only going to rise in the long term, it becomes clear that the car lifestyle is on its last legs. Time to prepare for a new path.

Heads up: The Gubbins Experiment live on CNN International - tomorrow Jan 10th, 4:00pm

2010-01-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I got a very unexpected call from a reporter at CNN International with an invite to do a live interview on the channel on Saturday at 4pm PST (7pm EST). "Absolutely not", I replied. "I abhor media attention".

That is, of course, not what I said. I'm floored at the chance to be able to share The Gubbins Experiment with the world, especially a respected media outlet like CNN. It was always my hope that others might find my experiences useful.

Let me pre-empt what may be a common question: Why is a guy not riding a car for a year worthy of international attention? In my opinion - and I'm surprised by all this as anyone - it's not because what I did was impressive. It's more that it opens a window on larger issues. How do ordinary people connect their lives to issues such as the environment or peak oil? This was one way.

So, catch me live tomorrow at 4pm PST (however, on the phone the reporter said 4:15pm so it may be a little later) on CNN International. Tune in one your TV or watch online here. I think you can catch me online there.

5 things I should admit about The Gubbins Experiment

2010-01-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty proud of getting through the whole of 2009 without riding in cars. Having the courage to commit to the challenge was, by itself, a character-building experience. But analyzing how I got through The Gubbins Experiment exposes some nuances of going car-free in an auto-dependent society. The below list is also an admission of some of the Experiment's "impurities".

1. Cars have been a minimal part of my life for years

I am already an A-to-B cyclist who lives in San Francisco's walkable Inner Sunset neighborhood and whose friends and workplace are mostly located within a 30-minute bicycle ride. A simple life is the ideal for which I strive and I try to keep to a minimum the acquisition of luxuries or the need to travel large distances.

And I couldn't possibly afford to maintain and run a car. That so many people spend so much money on these things is an alien habit to me.

2. I "used" cars indirectly

Although I didn't enter a car in 2009, I depended on other people entering theirs. Friends, for instance, would drive to my house to visit. On several occasions, if I needed to get something heavy to my house, I'd ride to my destination, get a driver to meet me there, fill up the car, and meet the driver back at the house.

In doing that, I realized that, although I'm prepared to forgo long inessential journeys by car, I was still unable to forgo the heavy lifting capabilities of cars or the ability of others to easily get to me. To give up these things would represent a dramatic lifestyle change for which I was not yet prepared.

3. I used planes

In November 2009, I took a trip to the UK for my brother's wedding. This involved a 10-hour return flight from San Francisco to London and a 30-minute return flight from London to the island of Guernsey. People asked me several times, "Why are you taking a plane flight when planes have far higher carbon emissions than cars?" I replied that The Gubbins Experiment was strictly limited to cars just because that's where I wanted to start in my scaling down lifestyle project.

Nonetheless, for all the obvious reasons, flying was a difficult pill for me to swallow. When the plane took off from San Francisco, it felt wrong to be on that flight, eschewing all the pleasant effects of rescaling that I'd experienced throughout the rest of the year.

However, deciding to give up flying would be a huge deal because I'd be essentially saying a pseudo-permanent goodbye to the first 20-odd years of my life in the UK, to all my past, friends, and family there. This would be quite upsetting. The only way to get around this would be to ride/train/bus across the US and sail across the Atlantic. That would be an epic journey, not undertaken lightly.

4. Other people used planes because of me

In early 2009, my brother Jonathan and his girlfriend Sarah flew from the UK to visit me in San Francisco. Man, was that a fantastic 10 days. In one day alone, on bikes we did Twin Peaks, Alamo Square, a City Hall tour, a cable car ride, a walk across North Beach, and Critical Mass. It was great to have them over and show them how much I love this town.

But of course, they flew here. I don't like flying but I wouldn't say no to people flying here to visit me, which is somewhat hypocritical. I guess, as Adam Horowitz from the Beastie Boys says, "I'd rather be a hypocrite to you than a zombie forever."

5. I did actually take a road trip to Los Angeles in a Hummer

Ho ho ho! Gotya.

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Perhaps I may have to do another of these lists when I get around to reading the notoriously acidic comments below the SF Chronicle story about The Gubbins Experiment!

More from me soon...

V for The Gubbins Experiment

2010-01-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

One year later, the Gubbins Experiment has ended in success - I made it car-free for the whole of 2009. But, as they say, the end is just the beginning. (More about that later.)

5 lessons that The Gubbins Experiment taught me

1. Whenever you stick your neck out, there will always be people who criticize you

I do not belong to the club of the great moral crusaders in this world but even those who rocked the boat with the most worthy of causes pushed on in the face of criticism. Although most people encouraged and praised my experiment, someone called me a "white liberal snob" and others downplayed my achievement in order to defend their own position ("it's easy for you but impossible for me"). The lesson was that to do really good things, you must be prepared for flak. In a world where we work so hard to fit in, that can be a sign that you're doing something worthwhile.

And yes, I am heartily looking forward to reading the hater comments on the SF Gate article!

2. Setting an example is more about consciousness-raising than changing people

At the beginning of 2009, part of my stated rationale for going car-free was that driving is becoming less ethical and that it is possible to get by without cars. However, during the year, I dropped this message because I felt it was overly preachy and was unfair to people who are very dependent on cars.

Instead, I concluded that it was better to tell my story and let people decide for themselves how to apply my experiences to their own lives. Those who try to convert people to a pre-determined course of action either hit success or failure with each person (usually failure). But those who let their experiences percolate through others' minds contribute to a deeper culture shift. It's a slower and subtler approach but more powerful in the end. And less pretentious.

3. To limit yourself can be a form of freedom

I began this experiment with the mindset of "giving something up" and was very surprised at the consequent sensation of liberation. Although many longer trips were no longer desirable, it was a great feeling to cut one form of dependency out of my life.

In recent times, I have felt very much a slave to mankind's machines. I have become like a baby who cannot do anything for himself and who does not understand anything about what is being done for him. I set my microwave, hit the buttons on my computer, watch my television, and yet have no clue about how any of these things work. In my opinion, by letting our machines (or poorer people) do so much work for us, we have lost much of the dignity associated with the priceless gifts of human physicality and brainpower.

When my bicycle and my own legs became my primary forms of transport, I found some of that dignity returned. When I had to brave rain and wind and camp in the middle of a stormy English countryside in November, I found the loss of comfort refreshing and enlivening. And every day, when riding my bike, the poetry of self-sufficiency gives me a rewarding sense of self-ownership.

4. Small is beautiful

When you can't easily travel large distances, you begin to appreciate things you used to skip over. That planter box outside the house down the road, a mural-filled alleyway, the sounds of people talking outside your local bar... You don't need to drive miles to find beautiful and interesting things; they are close by and all around you.

But more than that, giving up easy transport is about rescaling one's life. Shops, friends, and workplaces must be fairly close by and accessible by foot, bicycle, or public transport. As previously discussed in an earlier blog posting, the end of cheap energy in the 21st century is going to force industrialized societies to downsize everything. No more cheap goods from China or holidays to Australia; those days are over. The Gubbins Experiment was a small glimpse into a rescaled future.

Some say "The Gubbins Experiment is easy for you but I have kids' schools and a job fifty miles apart." That is true, which I why this experiment is not a slur on people who drive. But in the peak oil future just around the corner, there will be no bailouts for people who have structured their lives around cheap energy. In the 21st century, it is critical that we scale our lives wisely.

5. It is good to do something scary

Most of us very rarely step outside of our comfort zones. I'm glad that I did something that, at the start, seemed foolish but which later turned out to reveal many insights. It was a great experience. I heartily recommend doing something outside of your comfort zone that will give you fresh ideas about something. Forget about "efficiency" or "logic", words that often in practice more accurately denote business as usual.

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More soon. I'm rushing out the house now, but coming soon... 5 things I should admit about my experience.

A New Sense of Scale

2009-12-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

Apart from my visit to the UK a few weeks ago, in 2009 I didn't leave the San Francisco Bay Area once. In all honesty, this was as much due to the time-sink that was my Masters Degree (attained in May) and my low bank balance as it was due to the Gubbins Experiment. Whatever the case, your Gubbins admits to strong bouts of stir craziness throughout the year!

Nonetheless, staying within such a small area provided me with another fascinating insight into what it means to live car-free; that is, the readjustment of scale in one's life. No longer are distant ventures easily possible on a whim. Public transport helps to a large degree but even then there are many places inaccessible that way. With a mixture of cycling and/or public transport, it is possible to get anywhere, given enough time, but with difficult journeys you really have to want it.

I believe that in the next few decades, our civilization will undergo a profound change in the scale of its citizens' lives. To take just the case of how we get around, we are going to have to get used to moving much smaller distances in our daily lives and with more effort. Why? The answer is peak oil: the point at which global production of oil reaches its highest peak before declining from thereon.

As you can see from the above chart, since the digging of the first oil well in Pennsylvania in the 1860s, oil production has risen sharply in the 20th century, transforming - and indeed making possible - the lives of billions. Our world was reshaped by global travel, advanced technology, infinite varieties of luxury goods and abundances of food that were directly or indirectly facilitated by oil. However, it won't surprise you to learn that there is only so much oil in the ground. Indeed, individual oil wells around the world have been peaking in production for many decades. US production, for instance, peaked in 1970. But the big issue is when world production will peak. Although this date is hotly debated, there is much evidence that conventional oil production peaked in 2005 and all forms of oil production peaked in 2008.

As 95% of transportation fuel is derived from oil, the peak and inexorable decline of oil production puts a profound question mark over every element of our lives, especially how we move around. What will happen to the global supply chains that bring us food and goods from around the world, or our 100 mile visits to family nearby, or our holidays to Hawaii? Nobody knows but when one fully grasps the concept of peak oil and examines the mounting evidence that production will almost certainly peak between now and 2020, it is obvious that everything is about to change.

Peak oil thinkers know well what this means: the rescaling and downsizing of the human project of civilization. With our energy source becoming ever more expensive and no other energy source having oil's energy concentration and portability, sooner or later few of us will be able to power our cars or have access to goods from afar. We will have no choice but to grow our food locally, limit our social interactions to people nearby, and holiday within a short distance away. We will almost exclusively be walking, riding bicycles, and probably even getting back on the horse saddle. To consider this change of scale may seem initially daunting to those who have only known the god-like freedom we have enjoyed for the past 100 years.

People sometimes say to me, "You can't tell people that they shouldn't go on holidays to Egypt or drive to work everyday". But I'm afraid that the concept of "shouldn't" will soon no longer apply. We will be forced to abandon these habits, whether or not we are happy about it. For me, the Gubbins Experiment has been an insight into what a downscaled life might look like (except sooner or later, air travel will also be beyond me). I must admit that it is as hard for me as anyone else to accept that I may soon be forced to give up the global mobility I have always taken for granted.

But it will be even harder for those who have said to me, "You have no children and everything you need is close by - I have three kids and my job is 50 miles away". Peak oil will not give special exemptions to those unfortunate people who suddenly find themselves marooned, miles away from schools, shops, and workplaces. That's why it is especially critical that those who right now could never do a Gubbins Experiment of their own consider how they might adjust to the coming era of energy scarcity. It will be catastrophic to ignore this issue until it is too late.

On another note, many of you are asking what I will do when 2009 ends and the year-long Gubbins Experiment is up. Well, I can't just tell you now, can I?! But that news is coming. Watch this space...

Braving England

2009-12-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

After 11 months, the Gubbins Experiment finally put up a bit of a challenge during my visit to the UK for my brother's wedding. Before I continue, let's address a common bit of criticism: "So, you aren't going in cars but you are flying?" Yes. My experiment is highlighting car dependency, it's not trying to be everything. Is that okay?

My brother Phil was getting married November 14th just outside of the tiny town of Ticehurst, south of London in that classic English countryside of rolling green hills and endless fields. The nearest train station was 5 miles away in Wadhurst ("Wadhurst" - sounds like a car for spit, doesn't it? Don't you love these great place names?). To make the journey, my brother lent me his bicycle and I rode from Wadhurst to Ticehurst.

It was decidedly unpleasant. Against the unrelenting wind and rain of English November, I was forced to ride with my heavy backpack, stuffed with two weeks of everything I needed. Because of the backpack's weight, I couldn't stand on the pedals to get up hills so I was forced to sit down and rely on my thigh muscles. Oh how they burned!

At the same time, cars whipped past me. These narrow two-lane roads really weren't built for cyclists and motor vehicles to coexist. Every time something came up behind me, I feared some giant smack into my back, followed by a coma. The anxiety would peak when I'd be round a corner. A careless driver could zip around without seeing me and that would be it. But I realized that I'd been merely spoiled in the past few years by San Francisco's wide, straight roads. When I was a kid, these English roads had been the norm and I never had much of a problem with them. Nobody ever went smack into me once in all those years.

Painful inch by painful inch, I pea-rolled up those hills, feeling sorry for myself but visualizing the day I'd be chuckling about it on this blog. And now indeed do I chuckle! Eventually, I reached my destination. A few days later, I was to repeat the process but on the way back and without the rain. That day was, I think, the only dry day I saw in my entire two week stay in the UK.

After the wedding (which I was able to MC without saying anything stupid - wow!), there was one more testing experience in England. I rode to Wadhurst train station and made it back to central London. Instead, of returning Phil's bike back to his place, I thought I'd take the bike across London and ride the two miles I would otherwise need to walk from St Albans train station to the house at which I would be staying next.

BIG mistake. London transport - especially on a Sunday - is not wired to your bicycling needs. Unless you know the city very well, leave your bike at home. Most Underground Lines won't accept bikes, they won't go on buses, and many train stations can only be accessed once you have first caught the Underground. Of course, I didn't know this at the time, leading to three pointless, sweaty hours of bad decision after bad decision as I tried in vain to cross London with my bicycle. Some train stations I visited three times or more. I got lost multiple times. In the end, I threw my hands up in defeat and returned the bike back to Phil's house.

After that, most of my time in the UK was spent on my birthplace island of Guernsey, in the English Channel. Somehow, although it rained daily, I would miraculously avoid rain almost every time I left the house. That said, I wouldn't have minded much if the rain had hit me more often. Unless you have ridden in rain (and preferably been raised on it as a child), you wouldn't realize that bicycling in rain is not anywhere near as unpleasant as it might look from the carbon comfort of the car, provided you have thought ahead and obtained rain gear. I actually quite enjoy riding in the rain.

The rain did strike me once, on my final day on the island, during my ride to my dad's house for lunch - yes, with that big, heavy backpack on my aching shoulders. On that journey, I faced my old arch enemy: the formidable Rectory Hill. They should call it Rectum Hill because of the shitty time it puts the cyclist through. As a child, I lived in fear of riding up Rectory Hill. It only takes a few minutes to ascend but, boy, how slowly do those minutes go. A gentle climb gets steeper and steeper, levels out, then busts out another steep one up to the finish. As you go, a line of cars backs up behind you, with little chance for overtaking. Gnnn... these narrow roads. As an adult, I've mastered the hill but it was a different story on this day with the backpack. My heart almost exploded. This wasn't no love affair. But of course, I made it. With Rectory Hill over, so was the hardest part of the Gubbins Experiment so far.

Now I'm back in cushy San Francisco and it's back to easy cruising. Now, there's a question mark over what I do for Christmas. I usually join family friends up north in Lake County but will this be palatable without taking a car? We will see.

The positive vision

2009-09-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Nine months in, The Gubbins Experiment hasn't turned out like I expected.

For a start, going car-free has been surprisingly easy. I wish I could relay tales of stealth, ingenuity, hardship, and triumph... but no. Without any fanfare, I merely readjusted the parameters of my sphere and proceeded much as I did before. Although I've made my errors of judgment in my life, when it comes to transport, my decisions were good ones: living in a dense city and close to places of study and work, traveling light, raised on bicycling as a form of transport - and no kids, yet!

Many say "It's okay for you but I work 20 miles away and have to get my kids to three different schools". My response? "Fair enough". But with peak oil and other resource peaks looming, you better start thinking ahead or else you're screwed when it's too expensive to drive to the next town for work and beyond to Target. Soon, we'll have to think more wisely; there'll be no other way.

But the biggest unexpected side-effect of my car-free vow has been the sideways jolt to my mindset. Some call it a "consciousness-raiser". On the outside of the car world, cars now appear to me ugly metal cases killing children, degrading our public spaces, poisoning the air. Then more appears: Vandalism of the natural world has become the norm. We have become a civilization of death. How unspeakable the native people who lived on this land three hundred years ago would have found our madness - the species we've exterminated, the peoples we've butchered, the water we've poisoned. So much has gone and will never return, so much is now toxic, a legacy for which our successors will look back and hate us.

2009 has turned out to be my angriest year. I'm angry all the time. Everywhere I go, I see the rape and pillage of everything. Saints and sinners alike wallow in junk, puke trash, consume like viruses... and there's precious little evidence anyone cares. And among those who do care, who is really challenging the system that's doing the bulldozing? The system that produces our computers, electricity, cellphones, clothes, food, buildings, and materials is the system killing everything but who among us would give up our Dell laptops, iPhones, and LCD TVs?

For therein lies the Catch 22 for the concerned: If the fresh thinkers give up what needs to be given up, we'll be socially alienated and paralyzed in communication. We need Facebook to tell the rest of the world that we should give up Facebook. What a perfect, horrible trap.

The awful unthinkable fact: The root of the peak resource specter and of the destruction of everything is Industrialization. Advanced technology is simply unsustainable when adopted at a mass level. We must give it up. But of course we won't. We'll busy ourselves producing guides, hosting block parties, installing new shower heads, going to talks, reading magazines, even bicycling a little more. But we won't stare the demon in the face. We'll intellectualize ourselves into inaction.

I dream of a day without cars and computers, without the ghastly and expanding exploitation of life, without the anger and guilt of living in this unspeakable and inescapable culture. We will never know a pure clean earth. We live at the apex of humanity's ability to steal, torture, destroy, poison. Every ordinary person in this technological civilization does it.

Heavy thoughts from a guy who merely asked not to ride in a car for a year! But these sad musings would be all for naught were they not to lead to action. Yes, I'm car-free, meat-free, and a small-time gardener. It's all great - the few actions that don't feel tarnished (unlike, say, this blog which depends on the environmental bulldozer that is the internet). These things do make a tiny difference and I encourage everyone to follow suit. But these actions will never really make a true difference. Not enough people will adopt them and even if this happened, the effects would still be negligible because "the system" would remain intact.

But, as The Gubbins Experiment has been for me, these actions can be incredible consciousness-raisers. This can mean a critical mental break from the flock that might open the way for real change. But that change must address the system, not its innumerable offshoots.

Nonetheless, here I sit, paralyzed, squirming in my seat, working out how to even lift my leg to put the first step forward. But if I don't do it, who will?

This blog entry has violated a rule I try to follow: Paint a positive picture and make positive suggestions. Otherwise, people have no way to move forwards, to change. I've been struggling of late to offer positivity. No happy future vision seems realistic to me.

But I can offer this: The ship might be sinking but dammit let those swashbucklers among us rise up and fight with all the hopeless, foolish, humored, brave energy we can muster. There may be a bright future for some of us, and there may not, but with smiles on our faces, let's wade into the battle and fight for all we're worth.

That's my positive vision for you. It's not wind turbines, smart grids, and hydrogen cars - it's not even cob ovens, permaculture, and yurts - but I honestly, truly like it. Will you join me?

Questioning industrialization

2009-08-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

I imagine that some people thinking about my car-free vow, perhaps even those who respect such a vow, probably wonder what difference I'm really going to make. It's a good point. Although carbon will be saved by not riding in a car, the difference won't make any impact on a noticeable scale. So, there are two main reasons why I do this:

1. To raise the consciousness of others

2. To raise my own consciousness

This post addresses the second point. One of the strangest parts of going car-free (and remember, my definition of car-free is both not driving a car and not even riding in a car at all) is that it's sent my mind off in all kinds of directions. It's pulled me from my old groove of thinking and helped me to question a lot of new things. In the process, I've begun to travel back to the very root of modern life: industrialization. Here are my reflections:

Hard times ahead

With drought, spiraling government budget woes, peak oil, and environmental degradation, people living within US borders are going to experience the partial or entire collapse of the current industrialized system worse than most, although the US is so vast that there will be wide regional differences in how things play out.

But certainly in California, it's going to be really ugly. The water situation is going to worsen, the economy is destined to collapse (to see why, I highly recommend this amazing series of web videos, entitled "The Crash Course"), and people are totally unprepared for peak oil and other peaking resources.

The problem of industrialization

I've begun to realize that it's taboo to discuss the fundamental causes of the situation into which we are cornering ourselves. Take the environmental movement, for instance. By buying into the litany of falsehoods promoted by corporations and governments, the environmental movement has become perhaps more harmful than helpful. The main source of this assertion is the falsehood that you can solve the environmental / oppression of other peoples / limited resource dependency problems caused by technology using technology. Wind farms, solar panels, green holidays, and so on. Even bicycles!

What they don't seem to get is that even these "solutions" rely on the whole ecosystem of industrialization - and industrialization depends on extraction of finite resources, destruction of landbases, processing, consumption, disposal, and oppression of peoples abroad and at home. To that last point: industrialization didn't just magically happen, it required a sustained campaign of oppression on the parts of governments and peoples (good examples are the genocidal British economic colonial policies in the late 1800s as described in the book "Late Victorian Holocausts" and the oppression and genocide by European settlers of the North American indigenous tribes). Every industrialized country has had to engage in this war to modernize. Our countries must continue to crush other cultures and wipe out animals and plants to continue being industrialized. There is no other way.

You cannot use the tools that are creating the problem to solve the problem

To get back to the point of industrialization, you cannot use the tools that are creating the problem to solve the problem (Einstein said "The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them"). If you do so, you may slow down the pace of destruction (but probably not as economic systems requires constant expansion to survive, thus offsetting or sufficiently eroding advances made by technological improvements so as to continue to make us ) but you won't address the fundamental error of industrialization: that it depends on the destruction and exploitation.

That means, renewable energy is not sustainable and you cannot buy your way out of an environmental crisis. It also means there is no such thing as "green" in an industrial society. I take green to mean something that is good for the environment. How can anything that relies on extraction be green? Another common - perhaps dominant - definition of green is something less bad for the environment than other alternatives. But if we use this definition, we almost certainly commit ourselves to doom. For example, isn't driving an SUV green compared to flying the same distance in a plane? What isn't "green" when comparing it to something less so? This definition of green stops us addressing fundamental issues and makes progress slow, cumbersome, and ultimately ineffective. We may as well not bother and await collapse.

Questioning my own direction

Questioning capitalism is a minority interest in society. Questioning industrialization itself is almost a taboo. People say you just can't do it. But isn't anything questionable? Of course it is. Now, people might rightly ask what the alternatives are and how can we get there, but even if that cannot be answered that doesn't mean that it's wrong to question; it just means that we don't have all the answers.

Considering these ideas makes me question everything I've done and all the hopes I'd previously had for the future. As a media practitioner, if I use those tools in the hope that my efforts will one day lead to a lesser dependence on those tools, do I really believe that I'm making much of an impact? Or do I hope that someone else will make the hard choices - and in the future?

How to move forward?

The problem is that if you doubt the whole of industrialized civilization this can lead to paralysis. How the hell can you move forward if you have issues with the fabric of your surroundings and everything you know? That's the big question and I'm in the process of trying to answer it. But these questions need to be addressed since it's obvious to anyone who cares to look that the environmental movement is, on a macro scale, not making any difference - carbon emissions continue to rise and show no signs of slowing. And what about our apparent ethical progress as a species? There are more slaves than ever before (including us, if you consider the wage economy slavery, which many do). That's our "progress".

Very few people ask these fundamental questions, partly because the media and power centers (mainly corporations and governments) that so effectively (but not entirely) control our public dialogue and our minds don't facilitate this kind of dialogue. And these entities would never let us address the destructiveness of our species because those entities' existence depends on the very processes that cause the destruction. Corporations and governments will try to sell us solutions, distract us, fool us into thinking we're really doing something, slow us down using law and bureaucracy, and send police and armies against us. They'll do everything they can to stop us making necessary and fundamental changes while perpetuating the destruction. It will be very hard overcoming this.

There is so much we can do!

In thinking about the future, I don't subscribe to the concept of hope because, as the Buddhist saying goes, "Hope and fear chase each other's tails". By abandoning hope, we abandon fear. We also abandon a fixed vision of how the future should be, which also works because it may be beyond us to know what kind of future to head towards.

However, let us not be downhearted. I'd be sad to know that your reading this post contributed to the despair and inaction that movements such as the environmental cabal so often perpetuate. Even in the gloomiest times there is much we can do and much we can achieve. You must believe that you can do something, you must act. Do not remain motionless.

Think of all that we ordinary people have: intelligence, wisdom, energy, community, family, love. We are amazing creatures and we stand together in facing the future. Inspired and strengthened by each other, we can stride ahead. Let's start talking honestly, let's start thinking big, and let's not let anyone tell us otherwise!

Solid as a rock

2009-07-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Could it be? A new Gubbins Experiment blog post?! Yes indeed. Were you fearing that the experiment had ended in defeat? I'd finally caved in one night, unwilling to ride up California street and hopped in a passing friend's car to the top of the hill?

Worry not. My vow not to ride in a car in 2009 is still being kept, solid as a rock. Thanks to a centrally-located house in the walkable Inner Sunset neighborhood and all destinations being easily within bicycle/public transit distance, the Experiment has been smooth sailing thus far.

Yes, there have been some compromises. Today, I had to miss the wedding of an old acquaintance from graduate school who is getting hitched up in Sonoma. Once the shuttle had been canceled, the idea of getting up there by bike in time didn't rub me the right way and I had to bail. There have been a few other occasions I decided to pass on, although to be honest, forgoing the option to go by car only puts one's actual enthusiasm for the event in sharper contrast. Any place or event can be reached with sufficient will-power.

But there have also been some great occasions where being forced to forgo the car was a really empowering experience. A few months ago, I needed to get about 50ft of redwood planks (cut into shorter pieces) to construct two vegetable boxes from the Mission back to the Inner Sunset. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition lent me a bike trailer (see image below) and I piled on the wood. This was a really heavy load and I wondered if it was really possible to get this all home.

To my surprise, pulling even this kind of weight was amazingly easy. The majority of the weight is borne by the trailer's wheels, meaning that forward momentum is only impeded to a manageable degree. And once you're moving, the difference between pulling weight and pulling no weight is not so great. When the rider stops pedaling, the mass of the load keeps pushing the bike along, which is a bonus. Andy Thornley at the Bicycle Coalition tells me that people can pull 800lbs and upwards - several times what I was doing.

The lesson is that transporting large and heavy items by bicycle is easier than you'd think. I recall last summer when a cyclist pulled me, my bicycle in a box, and a month's worth of my baggage all on the back of his bike trailer to the Greyhound Station. He said he could barely notice I was behind him. Isn't that great?

My hope for the Gubbins Experiment is not to simply change what people do, but to raise their consciousness and get them talking. We need to start seriously questioning the entire way our modern world operates. Being a transportation "outsider" has given me just enough distance from business as usual to realize that our society is on a very sick, very sad, very dangerous path. We are bulldozing our heritage and once it's poisoned, it's poisoned. There's only one planet Earth and every time we ruin it a little more, that's a small part we'll never have back.

We stand here so apathetically, making excuses for our ruinous ways. In the coming world of climate change and peak oil, we rich world polluters deserve all that is coming to us. The sad thing is that the poor, who will be the true heirs to our madness, will not deserve their fates.

Friends, do you find yourself standing dumb, frozen in comfort? Perhaps you need your own experiment. Don't let the critics hold you back. Do something, anything... get moving. Time is not on our side.

The denial industry

2009-03-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

Have you heard? According to Honda, the FCX Clarity, a new hydrogen car, is set to go into mass production. Technology is going to let us all drive forever!

How many times have you heard people parrot these kind of sentiments? If you're anything like me, quite a few times. I gnash my teeth whenever I hear the "technology will save us, let's just sit back and wait for the inventors to come up with the solutions" line.

James Kunstler, puts it thus: "The widespread belief that hydrogen is going to save technological societies from the fast-approaching oil and gas reckoning is probably a good index of how delusional our oil-addicted society has become."

The hydrogen car plays to the sad desperation of those who cannot fathom a post-carbon world or a ravaged planet and would do anything to pretend that the mass car-ownership world is not about to expire. Promises of hydrogen transport encourages doing nothing. It's a dangerous idea.

Don't be fooled when car companies like Honda roll out seductive prototypes like the FCX before a gullible public. Writing for the LA Times, Dan Neil says the FCX "may be the most expensive, advanced and impractical car ever built." Car companies demo futuristic prototypes, we keep driving because we believe we can switch to the futuro-model when it's out, and the auto show demo car is never seen again. It happens all the time.

The proof is in the pudding. Is the prototype scalable? In other words, are enough resources cheaply available enough for its adoption across society? Can the infrastructure necessary for its use be implemented in the short time we have left before peak oil pulls the rug out from under our feet?

Read into the subject and you'll quickly realize that hydrogen-powered vehicles are a joke. Hydrogen, with its low atomic weight, requires an incredible degree of compression for a car to travel a reasonable distance, making hydrogen prone to catching on fire. This means that if your car doesn't just explode in a crash, it would probably leak all the hydrogen anyway since hydrogen small atoms allow it to easily escape through tiny holes. It's extremely corrosive too.

These considerations also make the distribution of hydrogen around the country a daunting prospect. Hydrogen would corrode the seals and damage the pumps required for pipelines to push gas across vast distances. Filling stations would necessitate approximately 21 times the number of trucks as for gas to deliver hydrogen. And how would these trucks move around?

You should know that hydrogen is not actually a fuel; it is more accurately thought of as a form of energy storage. Pulling hydrogen atoms apart form oxygen atoms, often by electrolysis, delivers a poor return on energy invested. In fact, you get roughly 1 unit of energy for every 1.4 invested. And that energy has to come from somewhere. Don't believe Honda, or any other car company, that hydrogen cars can be carbon neutral. It's impossible, they're lying.

It should be obvious to everyone who does the reading that hydrogen is a dead-end. But be aware that the proponents of every process, technology, and activity whose days are numbered will attempt to convince us that, with a twist of technology, we can update the old ways and continue on more or less the same as before. I've discussed it with hydrogen cars and we certainly have heard about it with coal.

Of course, arguing that hydrogen is a false savior is not an argument that mass car ownership in general is ready to die. But in an energy-constrained future, such an inefficient, energy-intensive way of moving people around as the private car just isn't going to wash. We may as well accept it.

Technological, non-renewable energy-dependent industry is itself an industry of denial. Every day we are drenched with its fantasy-addled messages. We cannot afford to be fooled.

Adam

ps. Yes, the Gubbins Experiment is still going swimmingly. Thanks to all who have asked. Spread the word - you can do it!

Crafting a message

2009-02-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

The weeks roll by and my memories of looking out through the windshield of whoever's car recede further and further into the distance. At the beginning of 2009, when The Gubbins Experiment commenced, I wondered what I'd be blogging about all year when my experiment revolves around not doing something.

To my surprise, the psychological journey has been decidedly noteworthy. The experience has enabled me to craft my message much more effectively. The kind of sentiments, just two months ago, that really lay behind my reasons for avoiding car use for a year (greatly exaggerated for clarity's sake) went something like:

1. Cars are bad for the environment.
2. We should feel bad about using them.
3. I'm going to prove that we can get by without them.

Of course, my highest powers of word choice softened these ideas but that's what I was really saying, perhaps not fully consciously. However, extensive thought since then has changed my mind somewhat and altered the way I think and communicate ideas about the automobile. Here's how:

1. Yes, cars are bad for the environment, but they also depend on resources - particularly oil - that are either peaking in terms of world production or will peak shortly. I'm now of the opinion that peak oil is a better way to attract interest in the future of the automobile than the environment. Environmental discussion too often involves gas, ice caps, and other things that are too far from people's everyday reality to connect with. The idea of oil running out is easier to grab because we can better visualize not being able to run our cars or have food on the store shelves better than temperature rises.

At the very least, a message that combines the environment and peak oil is far more effective than a message that involves either one.

2. Should we feel bad about using cars, especially when alternatives are within our reach? For far too long, too many voices in the environmental movement have crafted their messages around fear-mongering and guilt-tripping, which usually makes people feel hopeless at best. That's why the transition movement is so exciting. It provides wonderful pictures of life beyond a carbon economy, images of a newly localized world where neighbors know one another, spaces are designed with humans (not machines) in mind, and we better understand the value of what we have. I recommend finding out more about the movement.

3. What will not using a car for 12 months prove? It will only show that I can get by without cars. But how can I say that my conclusion will apply to someone else who's situation will differ from mine in some way or other. It won't prove much to the parents who have got to get their three kids to three different schools by 8am and then get to work 20 miles away by 8:30am.

No, my goal should not be to prove anything, it should be to encourage people to start talking about car dependency and where this dependency will lead. I believe that informed people generally know what's what - but they need to arrive at the right conclusion under their own volition.

It's been a great experience learning these things and I hope they might be of use to you too. Let's learn, think, and talk. Let's start now.

Until soon,

Adam

What to do about parked cars?

2009-02-02T13:04:00.000-08:00

We humans have incredible powers of adjustment. And for those of us (most of us) who have spent our whole lives in the mass auto-ownership world, here are some of the things we take for granted:

- Death strips (traffic-ridden roads)
- Tarmac blight (parking lots)
- Road plaque (roads lined with parked cars)
- Houses of the Ugly Auto (garages, gas stations, etc)
- ...and really, traffic-related injuries and deaths

Think back to the first half of the twentieth century when the auto manufacturers were running their highly successful campaign to put a car in every family. Would the public have bought into such a false dream if they had known what it would do to their communities?

I think not. A significant impact of cars relates to the fact that the auto is parked for over 95% of its life. These chunks of metal demand lots of space, which has been facilitated by vast swathes of land, public and private, being handed over to the auto world. Some cities, particular ones in Europe, have been wiser and more successful than others in dealing with parked cars. "Variable rate parking" is one such tool that's already in use in Europe and is starting to dip its toes here in the US.

You should know about variable rate parking. The system works like this: Instead of parking rates set at one particular level, variable rate parking allows parking fees to fluctuate over the course of the day in response to demand. Parking expert Donald Shoup (The Cost of Free Parking, 2005 - a great book) recommends that cities aim for 85% of parking spaces to be used at any one point. This ensures that drivers can find a space whenever they need it, reducing congestion and cruising. Then a variable parking rate system is implemented that sets pricing at levels that guarantee this 85% figure. It's a great system and San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York are all trying out the idea.

Unfortunately, back in my native island home of Guernsey, the situation is far more backwards. In Guernsey, there is still a debate raging over whether or not to introduce paid parking in the first place! (Note: Oklahoma City was the first place in the world to adopt paid parking, in 1935). The ability of humans to normalize the bad can certainly be seen there. In an island of 35 square miles and a population of 65,000, there are 54,000 registered vehicles. It's impossible to drive in a straight line for longer than 10 miles and yet almost nobody believes in anything but driving. It's one of the purest examples of how the car mentality warps perceptions. A quiet, charming island tucked away in the English Channel has become a mini-car hellhole.

As a former resident, I have been incensed enough to campaign for the introduction of paid parking in Guernsey. I may lose my battle but I've had a stab at it anyway by producing a 9-minute Youtube video. If you want to learn more about the harms of free parking and the benefits of paid/variable rate parking (as well as see me - I present the video), check it out:

Until soon, may your movements be happy and ethical,

Adam

The outsider

2009-01-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm an outsider. "The Gubbins Experiment", my vow to take no car journeys in 2009, either as driver or passenger, has made me so, and in two particular ways.

1. Citizen of a local world

Although I'm already a cyclist and public transit user, I can't fall back on the car to 'fill in the gaps' when I would like it to. It's forced me to adopt a more self-sufficient, local frame of mind. The workable parameters of my world have begun to shrink in accordance.

The combustion engine represents the something-for-nothing way of living that dominates our modern world. It's an existence dependent on borrowing from the past (fossil fuel energy) and from the future (the health of the planet). In exchange for ease of movement now, we commit the Earth to ever expanding ecological debt and we invest ourselves in systems with no future. With peak oil looming, the mass oil-based mass private transport system isn't going to work for much longer.

The reality of energy simply doesn't work the way we have been living. Reality with a future will be intensely local. Food, materials, services, infrastructure, transport: without oil to propel us around the globe, all of these will shortly begin a re-sizing from state, national, and global back to local.

We might as well start by experimenting with life without our cars now. The Gubbins Experiment has made me intensely aware of this need. As an outsider looking in, I see so clearly now how doomed the current transport system is.

2. The violence of the car

As an outsider, I've come to realize how violent the act of driving is. Our public spaces, the areas outside of our buildings, have become death strips populated by dangerous chunks of metal that threaten to take out anybody who puts a foot wrong. The alienation and dehumanization of society owes much to the combustion engine. It was not what we were promised at the dawn of the mass automobile society.

Picture in your mind a world where car use is an exception not a rule. Imagine quiet, clean streets of friendly faces and moderate pace. You cross the street wherever you like, your children are free to play next to the road, birdsong is once more audible, the streets become safe once more, you start to see the same people again and again and the first shoots of community begin to grow. Think of what effect all this would have on your daily peace of mind. That could one day become a reality if we wanted it to be so.

I'm very critical of what world cars have helped create, but I'm less condemnatory of drivers. All people, including drivers, act according to their level of understanding and with the field of view afforded to them. As an ex-driver, I relate to the view of cars as indispensable in the modern age (even though I now see the error of such a view). I understand how firmly entrenched people are in the car world and that many couldn't simply walk away from their cars. As a result, it's such people who most need to start talking about post-car existence. My inventory lacks a crystal ball but I'm betting that such a time will come. Let's start talking.

The world is changing

2009-01-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

Some interesting responses to my experiment have arrived in my inbox lately. I'd like to discuss a few of the more interesting - and critical - messages. Of course, many responses were to the tune of "You're crazy" and "That's impossible!". Here's some other messages I received:

"Any suggestions on how we get the kids to school with all of their bags in the cold/rain before 8:30 while at the same time having a good nights sleep? Nice try but the car seems a better option."

Here's another:

"You know, not to rain all over your experiment, but we are very privileged here in SF [San Francisco], as well as other large cities. Why don't you relocate to, say, North Platte, Nebraska, which has no public transportation, get a a job, a few kids, and then try your experiment.

It's very easy for people like us. I have not been in a car for a year, but I have multiple routes of public transportation. You are proving nothing if you go carless for a year in SF. It's pretty easy here and to other areas of California. It's not so easy in other areas of the US.

You should be promoting easier access to public transportation in areas that do not have it. If you are a mother in the Midwest, how are you going to transport your three kids to daycare and then cycle your way to work when there is virtually no public transportation?"

These are excellent points and I take my hat off to those who took the time to challenge me. The theme of these responses is clearly that it's easy for me to avoid car journeys but nigh-on impossible for those with families, lower income earners, residents of places with poor public transportation, and so on.

Let me first clarify that The Gubbins Experiment's main goal is not to tell people how I think they should conduct their lives. Such preachiness is a common approach in environmental and other such advocatory circles. In my opinion, a better approach is that of consciousness-raising. I can't tell people what to think, but I can suggest what they might think about. My goal is to get people thinking about the impacts and long-term viability of private transportation. People who can't do what I'm doing could still use my experiment as inspiration to have conversations of their own, learn more, and make changes that are within their means.

In fact, it's critical that everybody of all levels of car-dependency start talking about the future of private car ownership. In my opinion, with the looming spectres of peak oil, diminishing resources, and environmental degradation it may soon become impossible for everyday people to own cars, regardless of how much they need them right now. Thus, I assert that this discussion is not just about whether or not people should own cars, it's a matter of how people are going to survive without them. This debate should be raging in every home across the land.

I do understand that it might be easier (though by no means easy) for me to avoid car-use than for countless individuals and families out there. But my aim is to bring this issue to their attention, not to tell them what to do.

On the other hand, many of us really could reduce and even eliminate car-dependency. I personally know many people for whom this is true. And my consciousness-raising fight begins with them.

It's been hard announcing The Gubbins Experiment to my friends, family, and colleagues. My concern is that many of them will think I judge them for driving. I'm aware now of how awkward it can feel to stand apart from your community and adopt a "radical" position. However, I don't judge my community for car-dependency. I understand that our lives have been built around the automobile for over 80 years. We all inherit and adjust to the world created around us.

Nonetheless, as the world has changed around the car, so the world may be about to change again in a way that will make obsolete the old automobile lifestyle. We must prepare. That's why I'm doing this.

Butterflies on the diving board

2009-01-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

One of my earliest memories of fear is as a child standing on the diving board, high above the swimming pool, with butterflies in my stomach, thinking "What am I doing? I can't believe I'm even trying this."

On January 1st 2009, my walk through the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco took me to the jetty in the Asian Cloud Forest. With a stomach knotted with nervousness, I stared into the water and asked myself, "What am I doing? I can't believe I'm even trying this."

I was on that diving board again with the same sinking feeling. As with back then, if I chose to go ahead with this, a lot of people would be watching and my failure would inspire many fingers to wag. Through my mind sailed all the sacrifices that might be required of me: no trips to Napa with visiting family, no journeys with friends to remote camping spots, perhaps missing out on work as a cameraman in LA, and so on. I went to my very core and asked if this was really worth it and what giving up car travel for a year would achieve.

Then I remembered advice contained within the Mary Schmich essay, "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", popularized as "The Sunscreen Song" by Baz Lurhmann: "Do one thing a day that scares you." Well, what about one really scary thing for a whole year? The deal was sealed, this was my challenge. Since then, the oddness of committing to no car trips has subsided a little and I'm getting used to the idea. It's already starting to help me shift my ideas of how I can be living my life. I'll explain these ideas over the course of 2009.

Sometimes, standing up for your ideals involves many sacrifices. You may have to give up doing things and seeing people you love. By limiting your actions, you may also impact others in your community who might depend on your old ways. You may also sacrifice efficiency, that grand hallmark of the modern age to which we have given so much (see Rebecca Solnit's great article on the Four Horsemen of Efficiency, Convenience, Profitability, and Security). But in spite of all that, dogged determination sometimes compels one to rise above logic on an individual scale and address logic in the bigger picture. In my case, logic in my own life says that I should take the easiest transport when the option is there, whereas the bigger picture logic says that private car use is unsustainable and that we need another way.

I'll write in the future about the notion of sacrifice in the context of The Gubbins Experiment. It's not as simple as saying that this endeavor is a sacrifice. That's a particular point of view and there are other ways to see it.

Already, some people have questioned the sense in me doing this. They've made some excellent points and I'll address them as time goes on. Please, if you would like to challenge any element of The Gubbins Experiment, you would be doing me a huge favor. I invite all comments, especially challenging ones.

More soon...

The Gubbins Experiment 2009 begins!

2009-01-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 1ST 2009 - “The Gubbins Experiment”: KPFA presenter Adam Greenfield pledges to take no car trips during 2009. Read about his experiences at http://gubbinsexperiment.blogspot.com/.

KPFA radio host, Focal Point television show presenter, and San Francisco Bicycle Coalition member Adam Greenfield is proud to announce “The Gubbins Experiment”, his pledge to take no car trips during 2009.

“I'm thrilled at this opportunity to show that it is possible to live outside of the car,” says Greenfield. “I'm convinced that I can complete all journeys to any destination in a reasonable time without being a car driver or passenger. It's my belief that the majority of us are worthy of such an endeavor. Nonetheless, I've never before made this kind of pledge and thus consider it an experiment. Friends around the world call me Gubbins and so I name this “The Gubbins Experiment.”

"Adam's experiment reminds us that taking trips by car is a choice, not a necessity," says Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the 10,000-member-strong San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, which promotes bicycling for everyday transportation. "With the pressure of global warming, overdependence on oil, and rising obesity, we should all be thinking about relying less on automobiles and more on our own two feet and public transportation."

San Francisco resident Greenfield already finds himself off to a strong start. He gave up his car years ago and makes almost all trips by bicycle, with a few journeys undertaken by public transport. “I've almost totally phased out car use from my life anyway. As for the relatively few times I was a car passenger in 2008, such trips could have been replaced with alternative transport with little or no time, financial, or convenience cost. Frankly, I've forgotten why I ever thought I needed a car. I walk for my groceries, bicycle to anywhere in the city, and reach all other destinations by public transit.”

Whilst many might think that avoiding car journeys for a year would be a sacrifice, Greenfield sees it differently. “Using alternatives to the car is a liberating experience. I'm healthier, more in touch with my community and the world around me, and am relieved to avoid the environmental and ethical problems of private car use. Moreover, this is my opportunity to show there's a path forward from the damaged world that cars have helped create. I intend to be the change I wish to see in the world. In the future, I know that others will be joining me.”

Greenfield will be blogging about his experiences throughout the year at http://gubbinsexperiment.blogspot.com/.

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Contacts

Adam Greenfield
415-786-2143
gubbins4ever@yahoo.com
http://gubbinsexperiment.blogspot.com/